I don't own Roswell or any of its franchise but oh how I wish I did…
A/N See! It didn't take a month this time, I'm feeling mighty accomplished. Anyway, this chapter is probably pretty confusing and all over the place, but a lot happens. Now, after this I'm gonna try to go forward a little. There's still so many things that needs to be covered in this story (especially the romancing hehe), and if I don't jump a little, I think this story will never end. That said, I truly hope this chapter will be well received! Enjoy!
This chapter is unbetaed, but I'll appreciate any and all help…
CHAPTER TWENTY
Tess' POV
Some people might say that the way Tess' life had turned out since moving with her alien guardian to Roswell, New Mexico was a little bit on the surprising side. Tess more or less preferred the terms 'mind blowing' and 'life changing'.
Growing up with Nasedo had taught Tess to think on her feet, but always respect her superior and believe in the life she used to have on her home planet. Well, not anymore, Tess thought grumpily as she watched people walk by her as she sat on a bench near the local park.
I'm sick and tired of feeling like I've done something wrong all the time, Tess thought, bending down and ripping off some grass to twist it around in her hands. I thought I had a connection with Kyle, but something must have gone wrong with my powers since he remembers what I did to him.
The look of unadulterated loathing in Kyle's eyes as he'd looked at her when she'd approached him in the UFO center, had nearly brought the curly haired hybrid to her knees. But Tess was nothing if not resilient and she'd decided to try and talk to him regardless of his sudden change of character.
"I won't do that again," she whispered, ignoring the startled look one of the passersby shot her. "At least I know it's only Kyle that's remembering," Tess added quietly.
As soon as she'd left the UFO Center, Tess had forced back the unfamiliar feelings of heartbreak, deciding that feeling that way because of a human was unacceptable, and had looked up the address of Kyle's fellow jock, Johnny.
It had only been a few minutes after she'd knocked on his door that Tess knew that her powers hadn't turned completely against her, because Johnny was too busy leering down her top to flee from her, screaming about what he'd witnessed in the computer lab.
Tess sighed, pushing back her feelings of despair, hating that she was turning into such…well, such a girl. Even her dreams were being influenced now, for some reason it was like her subconscious wanted to make her feel as bad as it possible could with hurtful dreams where her fellow hybrids and their human friends hated her for killing someone.
It was getting on Tess' nerve and she could barely stand to be around Liz and Maria anymore, feeling guilty for something that wasn't even real was very bad for her spirit, and it was suffering enough as it was with Kyle's renewed hatred of her.
Nasedo was also starting to look at her oddly whenever he caught sight of her. He didn't appreciate all the times that Tess had looked sad and pathetic; his words, not hers. Evidently she just couldn't live up to the ideal he had of her former self, Ava.
I wonder if he even cares about me, Tess thought, frowning as she caught sight of some familiar shape in the distance. He used to spend a lot of time with me, training me for my destiny. And now, after coming here and meeting Max and the others, he's basically ignoring me.
Tess' eyes followed the person; she knew that she should know. Leaning forward a bit to follow him with her eyes, Tess suddenly gasped. Nasedo!
What's he doing with that guy? Tess had stood up before even realizing it, her eyes locked on the sight of her guardian having what appeared to be casual conversation with some bespectacled guy and a short haired blonde woman. If there was one thing Tess was sure of, it was that Nasedo never did anything casual what so ever.
Without thinking things through, she quickly made her way over to the chatting trio. If she hadn't been completely sure of Nasedo's identity in the unfamiliar body, the scathing look he sent her as she interrupted him was more than enough proof.
"What are you up to?" she finally asked, pretending that she was a close friend of whoever it was Nasedo was supposed to be.
The unfamiliar guy that Tess vaguely recalled having seen in the UFO Center, grinned and eagerly started speaking before Nasedo could get a word in.
"It's so awesome. He's a fellow believer like me and we're gonna go talk about what happened here in that diner last September. It's gonna go online and people that care will actually know the truth. It's amazing, isn't it Jen?"
"Sure Larry," the woman by his side replied, looking decidedly uninterested as her eyes trailed from Larry to Tess and back.
"Well it was nice seeing you Tess," Nasedo stated coldly, with a fake smile. "But we really have to get going; I'm on a pretty tight schedule today."
"Where are you going?" Tess blurted out the question, knowing full well that she was breaking most of the rules that Nasedo had force fed her with since childhood.
"Nowhere important-" Nasedo started to say, when Larry, once again in his excitement, stepped forward and revealed everything.
"We're going out to the desert where he thinks that Area 51 is. Ain't that like super cool?"
"Excuse us for a moment," Nasedo took a firm hold of Tess' arm, "I just need a moment here with my friend. I'll be right back."
The grip was hard as steel and Tess swallowed back a whimper of pain, as Nasedo led her out of hearing distance from the two humans.
"Inform me please, as to why you are here?" Nasedo's cold voice sent shivers down Tess' spine, and she struggled to make her vocal chords react as her murdering guardian continued, "I ordered you to try and get close to Max and make him see reason, not follow me around like some pathetic human with nothing important to do."
For the first time, Tess felt a small sense of …something, and she blinked away her fears and met Nasedo's emotionless stare head on.
"Don't talk to me like that. I'm your queen and I won't have you sully everything up by obviously disobeying Max's orders. I thought you couldn't kill now that he ordered you not to."
Tess almost moaned, when Nasedo's grip tightened at her defiant words, "you're nothing Tess; you're a weak imitation of Ava. You're unable to even catch a simple boy's attentions away from an even simpler human girl. This is not what I trained you to do all these years. I'm disappointed in you."
Yanking out her arm with all of her strength, Tess took a few steps away. "First of all, don't insult Liz. She's my friend. And secondly; don't do this Nasedo; you're already pushing limits by keeping such a tight hold on Topolsky. Just, do as you're ordered; you don't have to do this."
The look Nasedo sent her, clearly told Tess that he thought her naïve. "I have to protect all of you," he stated softly. "Even if I have to kill every single human to do it, I will. Gladly."
"You're the pathetic one," Tess muttered, the anger and anguish she'd always kept at bay in his presence slowly bubbling to the surface and lending her some power. "You're not on Antar anymore. Your deal with Khivar is lost now that Max told you to forget about it. I'm not gonna use that plan of yours either, something which I know you're hoping for; I will not betray my family, even if they don't want me around all that much."
Even as she spoke, Tess suddenly felt a weird sense of déjà vu. A ghostly voice that sounded surprisingly like her own echoed in her mind, "I was raised by a killer, Kyle…a sick and twisted man…!"
Again, it was like someone else's, in this case Kyle's voice rang through her body, piercing it and leaving a burning trail of hurt inside of her. "You know, of all the aliens I've met…you're the only one that has no soul."
What the hell? Tess shook her head, trying to fight back what was happening inside of her seriously overactive imagination and looked back up into Nasedo's cold stare.
It was like the weird flashes from her dreams were trying to wander over into the time where she was awake, and Tess didn't like it one bit. And, for some reason, I really don't like the thought of being such an evil creature that my dreams keep making me out to be…
Shaking off whatever it was that flew through her; Tess yanked her arm out of Nasedo's grip. The look of surprise on his face was reward enough for her as she tried reasoning with him one more time.
"If you follow your plan and terminate this supposed threat of yours, Max and the others will not forgive you. They're already treading on eggshells around you after the Topolsky incident."
"Don't presume to think you know anything," Nasedo murmured, scanning the area for listeners, "go home and act like the pathetic human you're turning into. You're not the only thing in my world anymore, Tess."
With that, the older alien turned and walked back to a still eager looking Larry.
Tess watched them get inside of Larry's car and drive away and her earlier words about not betraying her family drifted into her mind. Without a second thought, Tess started running towards Max and Isabel's house.
On the way, she could feel tears running down her cheeks, branding her with her betrayal to the man that had raised her; but Tess knew without a shadow of a doubt that she'd finally, officially, picked her side in this tug of war between the guardian and the hybrids and she pushed herself to run faster even as the tears burned down her cheeks.
Isabel's POV
"I spoke with Kyle, and he says that Jim made it all go away just like last time. Evidently, your perfect plan worked, so I hope you're happy." Isabel said curtly as she opened the door to the bathroom where she'd heard Max enter some time ago.
All of her internal anger and hurt at being completely overruled in regards to the Hubble situation flew out of Isabel's mind the moment her eyes landed on her brother.
Max was standing in front of the sink, scrubbing his hands religiously with a bar of soap under running water. His skin was scratched and there were spatters of blood on the white porcelain of the sink, as though he'd literally tried to tear off the skin that offended him so much.
But that wasn't even the worst part in Isabel's opinion, no; it was the haunted look that she could see in his eyes as they were seeing something that she couldn't possibly grasp.
"Max!" Isabel quickly closed the door behind her, and ran to his side. As gently as she could, Isabel quickly grabbed hold of her brother's injured hands and guided him to the edge of the bathtub, coaxing his unresponsive body to sit down while she turned off the water and took out the first aid kit under the sink.
"Let me look at it," she asked and started cleaning the scrapes as soon as Max's big hand was in hers. "What were you thinking?"
"I can't touch Liz with these bloody hands," Max whispered, his gaze dark and so full of desolation that Isabel wanted to scream at him to come back to her.
"You need to heal these up so Liz doesn't get worried," Isabel prompted a few minutes later, when it dawned on her that he had nothing else to say.
"She's gonna be scared of me, Iz," Max's eyes suddenly penetrated Isabel and her breath caught at the sight of pure desperation in his brown eyes. "Somehow, she'll know because Liz always knows and then she'll fear me. I'll break if Liz is scared of me. But I had to do it, Isabel. I know you don't agree and Hubble didn't have a good life, but you didn't see his eyes; he never would've stopped."
Max swallowed and Isabel couldn't think of anything to say as he started muttering to himself, "he never would've stopped."
It's amazing, Isabel thought, fighting back sympathetic tears as she watched her brother silently, how often I forget that Max's heart is bigger than the rest of us'. The way he was after Liz was killed numbed him to the pain, but being back here must have softened him up again and I can't believe I never realized that. He has to snap out of it, we can't win if he's broken completely.
"Max, take a deep breath and just stop, okay?" Isabel grabbed his face and lifted it up so he had nowhere else to look but at her. "I know I disagreed about the way Hubble was taken care of. But I get it. I'm just a bitch, you know that. Michael told me what happened; I know you had to kill him this time around and not Jim. It wouldn't have made sense otherwise with Michael and Kyle being there; I get it. Liz won't have to know. We all agreed that no one finds out the whole truth to protect their innocence as long as we can. What you did was simply to protect us all. So, just, please stop, Max. Seeing you like this is hurting me and I bet Liz too, through your bond."
Max blinked once, staring straight into Isabel's eyes with an intensity that made her want to run back into her room and hide under the covers and call Alex for some much needed comfort. Then he blinked again and some semblance of life flooded back in to his eyes and Isabel regained the ability to breathe.
"I'm sorry," Max's voice was so low that Isabel could barely hear it, but she was just so relieved to see him finding the way back to himself that she didn't care.
"Now heal those things and let's go down to the kitchen; Mom's not home, so I made Tabasco Chocolate Chip Pancakes."
"Yes Ma'am," she caught him say just as she exited the bathroom. It made her smile and she quickly made her way to the kitchen to make another couple of pancakes, knowing that Max had more than likely neglected to eat ever since coming back from his mission.
He always did forget to eat when he was brooding, Isabel knew from past experiences. Whereas Michael and she had always eaten more to quench their worries, Max had a tendency to starve himself. In their other life, Max had been practically emaciated the night they finally finished their plan to come back to the past.
"But that won't happen this time," Isabel stated out loud to the empty room, as if warning off Fate, "I won't let it, because it's all gonna be okay."
"Who are you talking to?"
Max had slipped in next to Isabel at the kitchen counter and she shrieked and threw some flower at him with a grin, happier than she was willing to admit that he was looking like himself again. For the first time since Hubble had reappeared, Isabel was feeling at ease again. Of course, she'd never admit it out loud. "Make yourself useful and fry some bacon, Dumbass," she said instead and turned her attentions towards the pancakes that had grown cold during the time she'd helped Max.
Just as she'd finished warming them up to perfection with her powers, the front door burst open, slamming against the wall harshly and several things happened at once. Isabel immediately fell into a protective stance with her mother's prized steak knife in her hand, glowing as she poured her energy into it. Max instantly raised a glowing shield and the unannounced visitor banged right into it and skidded backwards, banging her head into the wall with a smack.
"Tess?" Isabel straightened up, putting the now burning knife in the sink where it sizzled as droplets from the faucet touched it and Max's greenish shield evaporated as quickly as it had arrived once he too recognized Tess' form. "What are you doing here? Do you need some ice for your head?"
"We don't have time for that," Tess scrambled to her feet, gasping loudly. There were trails of tears on her face and her nose was running and there were signs of sweat around her neck and under her armpits that made Isabel's obsessive compulsive nature cringe.
"You could just have driven here," Isabel pointed out and was about to offer Tess a chance to freshen up in the guest bathroom, when Tess simply interrupted her and everything else no longer mattered, least of all hygiene.
"Nasedo has taken those two humans that witnessed Max heal Liz. I don't know how he's gonna do it with Max's order hanging over him, but he's gonna kill them!"
Mere three minutes later, the trio of hybrids were speeding in the direction of the desert while Isabel was trying to contact Michael and Kyle to tell them to meet them.
"Hey Iz," Michael's voice rang out through the phone, "have you calmed down yet? I don't wanna come back and-"
"Nasedo's causing trouble again," Isabel interrupted and she could almost feel the anger seeping from Michael and she hoped that he wasn't in a too public a place.
"Where do you need us?" Gone was the mocking teenager tone and instead, Isabel was talking to the guy that had been a general in two lives.
She quickly rattled off what Tess had said and where they were going and Michael didn't even say goodbye before he hung up, presumably hurrying to catch up to them, how she had no idea, neither Michael nor Kyle had a car of their own.
Closing the phone, Isabel looked at Max's profile next to her as he sped down the road, "they're coming as fast as they can. What are we gonna do?"
Max's grip on the steering wheel tightened and Isabel could see his knuckles turning white, but his voice was calm when he quietly answered her.
"We need to make Nasedo understand that we're not kids to be protected. I won't keep getting people killed."
Isabel could feel Tess' questioning glance at her brother's words, but she just shrugged noncommittally like she too had no idea what he was talking about.
"Other than that," Max's sigh brought Isabel's attention back on him, "I really have no idea."
Isabel, not really knowing what to say to that, adjusted her ponytail and looked at the landscape as it blurred past. Tess' hand on her arm startled her and she quickly covered it up with a little too much bite to her voice.
"What?"
"I-I just," Tess hesitated at first, but then looked up and met Isabel's frosty gaze right on. "I don't want Nasedo hurt. That wasn't why I told you. He's the closest thing I have to a family."
"Great family," Isabel sniped, hating that tiny pinch of something that seemed to want to sympathize with the blonde. Then it turned into surprise when Tess suddenly straightened up and sneered right back with a coldness in her voice that could match Isabel's anytime.
"Well, I can't exactly call the way you've all been treating me a good thing. You all hated me way before I ever laid a hand on Kyle and despite us actually being a family; you're all treating me like I'm disgusting. And, although I've chosen your side in this, because killing innocent people is wrong, don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm gonna hurt the man that raised me."
There was a pause where Isabel simply didn't know what to say and then Tess added calmly, her voice eerily familiar to the time she'd come back to earth with Zan, only concerned about her son's survival. "Especially since I have never done anything to make you all hate me so much."
Isabel clenched her jaw, really wishing that she could blurt out her knowledge without making things even more complicated, but it just wasn't feasible. She didn't even have to look up to know that her brother was sending her a warning glance.
Instead, Isabel sighed and reminded herself of the promise she'd made not too long ago to not let her old feelings for Tess ruining things in this new life of theirs. Smiling as sincerely as she could, Isabel spoke again. "You're right and I'm sorry that it's been so obvious, Tess. I guess Max, Michael and I are just a tight knit group and don't like changes."
"Didn't stop you all from pouring out your secret to your friends," Tess pointed out.
"Well, that's a whole other matter that's not really that interesting. I just want you to know that I'll try to stop making you feel so attacked. I might seem like an ice cold person most of the time, but once you get past that, I can be a pretty decent girl."
"Not to interrupt," Max's voice interrupted the very rare moment of understanding that was happening between the two female hybrids, "but we're here and Michael's coming up behind us."
Isabel turned and couldn't quite contain a grin at the sight that met her. I guess no matter what timeline they were in, Maria's mom's Jetta always has a part to play.
The familiar sight of the rather run down vehicle actually served to calm Isabel more than anything else had so far, not even Alex's continuously confused, but soothing emotions had helped all that much.
A minute later, she was jumping out of the Jeep, meeting Michael halfway. A part of her was surprised that Kyle wasn't with him, but Michael answered her unspoken question quietly when the others weren't paying attention. "Told him to stay behind to make sure the others don't worry too much. Said it was something with Hank that couldn't wait."
"Good," said Isabel, turning back to Max, who was listening attentively to Tess' description of how Nasedo had looked like before, in case he was still in the same body.
Led by Max and Michael, they all dropped to the ground, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, knowing that shading their appearance with powers would more than likely make Nasedo realize they were on to him.
It was a piercing scream that made them all throw caution to the wind; Isabel was the first one on her feet and thus the first one to see what was going on.
As she came up over the last of the small hills that had been hiding them from plain sight, Isabel spotted Nasedo standing with his fingers around Larry's throat while using his powers to push off a fiercely struggling Jen as she did her best to try and help her fiancé.
"STOP you son of a bitch!" Isabel roared, raising her hands and sending off one of the strongest attacks she had.
Nasedo didn't have time to use Larry as a shield, so he threw him away and jumped backwards with a fluid grace that didn't match the slightly dorky person he resembled.
Isabel didn't give him time to rest, her body already moving in that deathly dance that she'd been through so many times before. Nasedo was not as fast as she was, but he was most definitely more resourceful and less controlled by his emotions, so he sent her a mocking smirk as he elegantly twisted out of reach from yet another blast. The rock that it hit practically melted with a sizzling sound and he looked over at her with mild surprise in his otherwise emotionless eyes.
"Are you really capable of killing me? Why can't you see that I'm doing this to protect you? Besides," here Nasedo skillfully put up a shimmering shield, similar to that which Max preferred to use to avoid being killed by a panting Isabel, "…besides as you should know if you hadn't been so emotional Princess, I wasn't going to kill that man; I'm forbidden remember?"
"That's not what it looked like, Man," Michael's voice sounded from behind Isabel and she braved a quick look to see that Max was busy assessing Larry's throat with knowing eyes, Tess was staring sadly at her guardian and Michael was standing with his hands in a battle stance, ready to protect a trembling Jen that had taken cover behind him, while watching Isabel with wide, confused but grateful eyes.
"Oh Swell," Nasedo rolled his eyes, "You're all here. Together." His gaze was locked on Tess and Isabel stepped in-between them instinctively protecting the other female. Although, Isabel mused silently, there was something in Nasedo's look that told her that he might dislike them all; but Tess wasn't part of that, so she relaxed minutely as she waited for something to happen to end the stalemate they now found themselves in.
"If you weren't going to kill them by hand, what was your plan?" Max's voice was cold as ice and Isabel swallowed down her basic desire to stay the hell out of his way as he stood up and slowly made his way closer to Nasedo.
This has the potential to go really bad, reallyfast…I hope everything will work out; please let everything work out in the end. Isabel practically prayed to the God that she didn't quite had the will to believe in anymore as she watched her brother take on that horrible mask of his that signaled that he was willing to fight to the death.
Max's POV
"You keep thinking that you know best, Nasedo. That's one of your flaws." Max said slowly, his voice carrying through the otherwise silent air.
The way the other man looked at him, quite clearly told Max that if he wasn't careful there'd be a repeat performance of their fight.
"And you keep believing that you're so superior, Boy. That arrogance has brought you and yours nothing but pain on Antar and now here as well. I will not watch you ruin everything due to some misguided act of sentimentality!"
They all stood immobile for a long minute, everything was quiet; the weeping Jen in the background having lost her ability to wail in the tension; even the slight breeze in the air stopped as if to not offend anyone.
Then, suddenly, Nasedo moved and Max intended to dodge out of the way, not interested in spending too much energy this time around; he was very aware of Liz's scared and confused anger running through him and he didn't want her to worry even more than she'd already had to with the Hubble situation.
That, of course, cost Max some of his usual speed and agility and he was caught off guard when he did something that he rarely did; he tripped over a small cluster of loose rocks on the ground and would without a doubt have been hit by the projectile of fiery power that Nasedo had sent towards him.
Except, suddenly, there was a shout of his name and Max felt someone push him hard enough to fall to the ground. It was only the fact that Max's mind was as experienced a fighter as it was that his body instinctively twisted in the air and he caught the one that had taken the hit for him.
To Max's huge shock and disbelief, he was now cradling a moaning Tess in his arms. She was definitely injured, her warm blood seeping onto his hands and clothes with a ferociousness that quickly forced Max into his doctor mode.
He worked fast and counted on his family to have his back while concentrating everything he had on Tess's still form. She was no longer conscious, her breathing labored and the whole thing was so surreal that Max couldn't really process it. Here he was, saving the woman that he'd hated for so many years.
"Tess, come on, open your eyes," Max murmured, ripping her shirt apart to fully access the injuries on her small body. There was a nasty gash right down her chest and it probably wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't still sizzling with some unfamiliar power; evidently, Nasedo had let his rage overtake him enough to break one of his earliest orders of never harming his charges.
"Can you save her?" it was Isabel's presence that made Max snap back into focus.
"I don't know. She's so far gone that I can't form the connection with her…Keep your hands there," Max instructed, "Keep pressure on it so the blood flow lessens. She's already lost so much blood."
It was like Max was two different people in that moment; the meticulous and detached healer and the shocked, and rage filled man that deep, deep down used to have, if not love for Tess, then at least respect.
Something burst inside of him when, once again, Tess didn't respond to his summons and Max looked up at the man responsible, covered in blood up to his arms and his dark eyes shining with fury. "Are you happy now?"
"Please, Za- Max, please don't let her die," Nasedo pleaded, his voice nothing like Max had ever heard before. The older alien's eyes were trained on Tess' still form, on the still gushing blood that obscured the sight of her actual wound. It was the first time that Max realized that Nasedo actually loved Tess.
"Max, she won't stop bleeding!" Isabel screamed and Max's attention snapped back to Tess. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Michael shielding the two whimpering humans with his body while piercing Nasedo with a warning stare that could have melted stone.
The sight of the dying Tess was something that Max secretly had always wanted to see; her first death by suicide hadn't been satisfactory to all of the negative emotions that he had for her; but now, seeing her like this wasn't pleasing in the least.
Particularly because her earlier words to Isabel kept running on repeat in Max's mind. "I have never done anything to make you all hate me so much." Because Tess had been right; in this timeline they'd all failed to let the past be past. The young Tess in front of him was still innocent enough to hate the thought of killing; she'd never purposely harmed anyone and her loneliness had catapulted her into a sincere friendship with Liz that Max knew was heartfelt from both sides.
This isn't the one that killed Alex, Max thought and for the first time, he realized that he didn't hate this girl; he hated the one that had betrayed them all and caused him to lose so much time with Liz, who had ruined so much and left so much pain behind that even a deadly war hadn't been able to mute the feelings caused by her.
And in that moment, all Max wanted was to save the woman he had called wife in another life. "Come on, Tess!" He grabbed her face and forced open her eyelids, but it was of no use. Suddenly, there was a flash of a long forgotten memory in his mind.
They were all standing in a cave, looking down at Michael, cocooned by his illness. River Dog guiding them all to heal him in tandem.
"We don't have time to get the stones here," Max whispered to himself, not noticing the questioning, and slightly desperate look Isabel sent his way. "But we're all here; we work best when we're together."
"Maxwell, focus!" Michael yelled and Max looked up, not once stopping from trying to heal the bloodied form beneath him.
"Michael! Nasedo! Come here!" He barked out the order, ignoring how Isabel began to protest at Nasedo's presence and launched into a quick explanation, "Remember the healing in the cave? We can't go get the stones, we don't' have time, but I need you all to join powers with me; it'll give me the boost I need to get inside her head and drag her back out."
Max grabbed Nasedo's trembling hand, smearing the murderer with Tess' rapidly cooling lifeblood. "Iz, join hands, Michael, touch my shoulder, I need to have one arm free while I do this. NOW!"
As soon as he felt Michael's hand on his back, Max forced Tess' eyelids open again and dove inside to drag her back to the realm of the living.
It was pitch black and there was no sound at all; it was like Max was floating in a place where nothing had ever existed and he had to swallow back some primal panic.
"Tess!" He called repeatedly, lighting up his path with his glowing hand. "Come find me!"
It felt like an eternity passed before something flickered on the edge of his sight and Max turned his head as fast as he could and caught the sight of something moving away from him. Following whatever it was; Max just knew that Tess wasn't far away anymore.
He blinked and gasped in shock when he saw the form of a much younger Tess, the way she'd looked the time she came out of the pod. She was kneeling, covered in blood from the wound that was morbidly still present even inside her own mind. "I'll be good, please don't leave me," she kept whispering, her young voice high and full of fears, "I don't wanna be alone anymore. Save me Max. Someone just save me; I'll be good, please."
Slowly, Max knelt down before her, making her jump with fright as his presence startled her out of her panicked state of mind. Some semblance of rationality came back to her eyes as they locked with his.
"Am I dead now? Are you here to punish me?" The hopelessness in her voice touched something that Max thought had died a long time ago inside of him.
"Tess, I'm here to help," was all he said as he slowly held out his glowing hand for her to grasp. "Just take my hand and we'll go back together."
"You hate me," the child stated calmly, never once blinking or looking away. "I try to be good but you all still hate me."
"Just take my hand and we'll work things out," Max could feel the coldness seeping into his very essence and knew that his time was running out; if he didn't hurry it would be too late. For the both of them. With a superhuman effort, Max fought off the chill and gestured with his hand one more time. "Come on, Tess!"
"I'm scared," the curly haired child admitted in a soft whisper and Max's heart ached for her.
"I know, it'll all be better as long as you take my hand," for some odd reason, Max just had a knowledge inside of him that Tess had to be the one to take his hand, if he forced her, she would be gone forever.
"Y-you promise?" The hesitant hope in her eyes finally killed the last bit of resentment inside of Max and he answered with the truth, nodding with his chin at his hand.
"I promise. I won't hurt you again; please just take my hand and let me prove it to you."
Slowly, Tess looked down at his offered hand; her frame growing more and more transparent by the second and Max felt as if the blackness was suffocating him, tearing him apart from the inside in its haste to prevent him from taking Tess with him.
Then things happened very quickly, Tess placed her small hand in his and they were off. Their combined powers chased the darkness away and when Max reopened his eyes, he was staring down at Tess' still form on the ground, still holding a firm grip on Nasedo's hand.
The pain inside of him was on fire, and Max had a suspicion that he would pay for this journey later, but first, he leaned forward and asked Tess to open her eyes one more time. There was a brief pause, where all his fears came roaring back to life, what if he'd lost her on the way, but then her eyes flickered and a second later she was looking at him with wonderment.
Max didn't waste any time before placing his hands on her wound, starting to heal her and with her mental cooperation, it wasn't difficult to cleanse the wound and pull out the alien fire still burning inside of her. A minute later, Tess breathed out a sigh of relief as Max closed the wound completely and the pain seemingly left her.
They shared a long look, both reaffirming their agreement of being if not friends, then family for a second, before Tess turned her head to look at Nasedo, who hadn't moved since Max had let go of his hand.
"I forgive you," she whispered and to Max it seemed like her voice psychically hurt the older alien, "but I won't be your responsibility any longer. You need to stop hurting people; there are other ways of getting your point across, Nasedo. So just stop, please."
"I have to protect you all," Nasedo murmured half-heartedly, his gaze traveling over to the pale faces of Larry and Jen.
The way he looked at them, still with some barely hidden contempt at their humanity, finally cracked Max's resolve and since he knew Tess genuinely loved her guardian, he couldn't kill him. He did the next best thing.
Unceremoniously, Max grabbed hold of Nasedo's face and twisted it in his direction, compelling him to look him into his eyes. "Here's what's gonna happen if you keep going in your own direction; this is what your precious protection can result in!"
Then Max let go of the mental chains that kept all of his hideous and horrific memories hidden away in a dark corner of his mind. He poured every single memory into Nasedo, showing him what kind of woman Tess had turned out to be in the original timeline; making him see just how the bonds with the humans had saved their sanity over and over again over the years. The memories of the vicious war actually caused the proud alien to groan, as if the agony was simply too much to bear.
While the connection between them was open and Max educated Nasedo, he could feel some of Nasedo's memories fly into him. What he saw, made Max understand the man so much more and his logical self returned when the last memory of them returning to this time had been force fed into Nasedo's abused mind.
With a gasp, Max broke the bond between them and let go of Nasedo, who promptly fell to the ground, trembling and moaning in mental agony. "This is what will happen if we don't stop it," Max whispered, feeling his vision darken as the events of the day finally caught up to him.
His body ached and the pounding in his head made him feel like someone was tramping on his brain, but Max never once looked away from Nasedo, who was weeping into the dusty ground. The memories that he'd gotten in return were still aligning themselves inside of him, but Max knew one thing for certain.
Nasedo never wanted anything to happen to Tess, not because she was the closest thing to a child he had, but because she was a part of Ava. The only woman he'd ever truly loved. Max used that knowledge and said, "She will never be free if you keep messing things up. Let her be happy here."
"I'm so sorry," Nasedo looked past Max and met Tess' confused stare. "I never meant to hurt you. I only tried to make you strong and independent…I'm sorry."
Then he slowly got to his feet, staggering a bit as if the load that Max had burdened him with was weighing him down not only on the inside but on the outside as well. "I'll go to L.A," he proclaimed, now knowing that Max and the others already knew about Cal and started walking away silently, "I'll wait for further instructions, Your Majesty" he added, his old subservient attitude having been returned with vengeance.
Max stubbornly held out until Nasedo's form had disappeared from sight, but then he couldn't handle the pressure on his brain anymore and he fell to the ground, blissfully unaware of everything for a short while.
Michael's POV
Max's form crumbled to the ground and Michael moved like lightning to catch him before he nosedived into the hard ground.
Instantly, Isabel was at their side, looking frantic and very exhausted. Michael didn't care about anything then to make sure that his leader wasn't dying on him.
His body had burned and protested ever since Max had borrowed some of his strength to go heal Tess, and he knew that he needed rest, but that was nothing compared to Max.
The brunette's skin was pale and covered in a fine sheet of sweat that made his skin cold and clammy to the touch. He was still covered in Tess' blood and his nose was bleeding, adding more red to an already ghastly image. "He's just exhausted," Michael recognized the signs from the times he'd witnessed his friend overuse his healing powers. "He needs to sleep it off."
"What do we do now? We can't take him home like this," Isabel said, her fears leaving her eyes a bit now that Michael had assured her of her brother's survival.
"W-well," Tess spoke and stood up, holding her tattered shirt together in front of her, evidently, she too was exhausted since she hadn't just fixed the fabric. "We could take him to my place. I…well, it's not like I have anyone that'll notice anymore," her eyes turned to the spot where she'd last seen her protector.
Remembering Maria's plea to stop being so cold towards Tess, Michael nodded mutely and then slung Max over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Lead the way."
"Uhm," Tess frowned, looking over at Larry and Jen. Larry had long since fainted, but Jen was watching them with widened eyes full of fear and a hesitant gratitude. "What do we do with them?"
"Mindwarp them," Isabel ordered, making Michael look at her in surprise; he hadn't expected her to approve of that method at all, all things considered. But apparently, he'd missed something on the way to the desert because Isabel wasn't looking the least bit apprehensive as she spoke the words.
"I'm too tired to do more than one 'warp," Tess confessed, running a bloodied hand through her messy hair. "Even as is, I doubt it'll be permanent, they'd probably remember everything sooner or later."
"Don't make me forget, please," Jen pleaded, standing up over Larry. "I swear I won't tell a soul about this. I've never even been interested in finding you guys in the first place; that was all Larry. He became obsessed and then I was just along for the ride. If…" she stopped to briefly look down at her bespectacled fiancé with a hesitant affection in her eyes, "if you make him forget, I'll make sure that if he suddenly remembers, then I'll contact you. Please."
Tess and Isabel looked at Michael when Jen finished speaking. Great, he thought, hoisting Max's unresponsive form higher up on his shoulder, so it seems like I'm the interim leader now. Thanks Maxwell, you better wake up soon…
"Sounds like a decent plan," Michael finally said and Tess nodded in agreement. Isabel didn't say anything; she was too busy staring at Max with sisterly worry. It seemed that all she really wanted was a chance to mother hen her brother for a bit.
A little under an hour later, Michael pulled into Tess' driveway and hurried inside with Max. Isabel joined them in the Jeep a moment later; Tess by her side.
Tess guided him to a guestroom where there was only a bed present and nothing else. Fortunately, it was made and ready for use and Michael placed Max on the bed and was just about to ask for some warm water and fresh clothes to clean him up, when Isabel came inside the room, carrying a bowl of water and a bundle of towels.
"Tess, you should take a shower and get something to eat, you're only just healed. Michael, I need you to go through Nasedo's stuff and see if he left behind any clothes that'll fit Max and I'll clean him up in the meantime."
Nodding, Michael did as ordered, silently happy that Isabel's Christmas Nazi nature had shown itself for a minute. He'd just opened a drawer in Nasedo's Spartan bedroom, when his forgotten cell phone rang. He grabbed it, pulled out the small antenna on it, while sorely missing the more up to date version of his cell phone and answered it when he recognized Kyle's number.
Kyle's slightly panicked voice reached him a second later, and Michael couldn't contain a slight groan of frustration when he processed what had been said.
"Dude, my fellow humans are pissed and heading your way. They felt you come back into town, and I couldn't stop them; they don't really trust me yet and told me to stay out of their way. So, consider this a heads up; they'll be wherever you are in a matter of minutes, I think."
Suddenly, there was a pounding on the front door and Maria's voice echoed loudly through it. "We know you're in there! We want answers and we want them like yesterday People!"
Michael sighed heavily into the phone. "Great, this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
Kyle chuckled in the other end. "Do you really need me to answer that?"
Michael rolled his eyes and did the only mature thing; he hung up and tiredly turned towards the front door to deal with, judging from the sound alone, some very irate humans.
TBC…
A/N I'd be happy to read any comments ;) I know a lot has happened in these last few chapters, but we all know it wouldn't be interesting to just read fluff, now would it:)
Until Next Time
Ditte Mai