I don't own Roswell or Any of its franchise…Sadly, or we'd definitely have a Roswell season 4 or a movie :D

Big, adoring thanks to Marzmez for the beta help, it was sorely needed.

A/N So, here I am again with a relatively short chapter, but it had to be done. It's not packed with a lot of action, but consider it an interlude to better and bigger things. Enjoy!

Last Time on TATT:Max, Michael, Kyle and Isabel decide to be proactive. Max and Iz tries to heal Serena, who somehow refuses from beyond the grave of her other life. Michael and Kyle gets caught in Copper Summit and tortured viciously until Kyle's hidden powers suddenly decide to make an unexpected, but very needed appearance...

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Courtney's POV

Initially, Courtney had been relieved when she discovered that her esteemed General was in Copper Summit, but after one look at him, she realized that he was only a boy playing a grown man's game of chicken at the wrong time and place.

That didn't diminish her original devotion to the man, but it did allow Courtney keep her cool more easily as her arrogant superiors taunted not only her, but him as well. Then the torture began. Her vigorous training kicked in and she stopped the King from saving him when he tried to intervene even though he had just survived a bout of torture himself.

It was the only way, she thought at first, only to realize soon after, with a startling clarity, that she didn't really know anything at all.

The tubes with the growing husks suddenly exploded and a suffocating power unlike anything she'd ever experienced seemed to envelope every molecule of the large room. The wires connecting the whole panel seemed to leap up as if alive, hugging the former Antarian king with reverence and devotion. It would've disturbed Courtney more if it hadn't just roasted two of her old enemies in a matter of minutes stopping her general's pain.

Instead of freezing like a dear in the headlights, Courtney leapt to Michael's side and checked his vitals. He groaned loudly when she unceremoniously lifted his eyelids to see if there was any semblance of intelligence left fearing that Sirl torture had only left behind a mass of pain.

"…Courtney…?" His name on her lips was a shock, and confusion flowed into her. How did he know of her existence? Especially with the fake name she'd barely begun using on this god forsaken planet.

"Shh…General," she soothed, and helped the much larger man to his feet with a strength that her own small stature should not have been able to do, if truth be told. "I've got you now. But…" her eyes glanced at the other male warily, "you may want to calm your King, he's a little too trigger happy right now for my taste."

"My king?" Michael's voice was hoarse and rusty, which wasn't a big surprise given the amount of screaming he'd done, but the confusion in it was still clear and Courtney pointed her chin in the direction of the one she was talking about.

Before he could say another word, the door to the room suddenly exploded into million pieces and in stormed two people that Courtney didn't recognize at first, but then the admittedly beautiful female looked her over with a ferocious gleam in her eyes, and that look just screamed 'Vilandra'.

Immediately, Courtney spun the still dazed Michael behind her and raised her hands, ready for anything. It proved to be bit of overkill, since neither of the new arrivals paid her much attention; their focus was solely on the former king and the obvious show of power he was giving.

"Kyle?" The one who used to be Vilandra exclaimed, and at the sound of her voice the guy's attention seemed to fall apart and the power lines and wires suddenly dropped to the ground, lifeless once more.

"Isabel…Max!"

The last male, Max stood by the door and when her gaze locked with his, Courtney once more realized that she was missing something very important. There was power in those unfamiliar eyes, power and determination, and in that moment the Skin didn't doubt for a second that if she stepped one toe out of line she'd be dead before her next breath.

I…I've never seen anything like this before, Courtney thought, fighting back a shudder. She was a warrior! Then, a vague memory slipped through her mind of a time when she'd done reconnaissance on Zan and the rest of the Royal Four, in an attempt to infiltrate the Antarian forces and get close to Rath.

The King had stood in front of some unnamed soldier, who'd betrayed his platoon to save himself, thus leaving them to die a painful death. Even though she'd always considered Zan weak and without any abilities to speak off, compared to his General at least; the rightful King, there had been a spark of something much deeper that had shook her foundations a little. At least enough to never forget the raw power that had been glimpsed as he'd ordered and executed the kill order on the soldier before him.

In the next moment, Courtney just knew who she was looking at, and her eyes quickly darted over to the strange man, who was busy being thoroughly examined by a fussing Vila…Isabel. "He's not the king," she whispered softly, absentmindedly helping Michael back on his wobbly feet.

"What?" Michael was the only one to react to her words, but before Courtney could reply or even ask questions, there was a sickening sound, like something exploded in on itself and melted at the same time.

Oh no, Courtney darted forward to the one, now ruined, tube where her own husk had been growing perfectly. She sank down to her feet, eying the bubbling mass that should've been her savior in only a few years. This shell will only last a few years more at most; she fought back the burning in her eyes that would've otherwise made her weep like a child. I'm going to die now; nothing left to fight for…

A movement out of the corner of her eye managed to grab Courtney's attention momentarily and she looked over at Michael, who was muttering quickly to the man that was so very obviously Zan. Unless, she continued to herself and slowly got back to her feet, I do what I set out to do and fight for my general.

"Stand back, Courtney," the voice of the one who used to be Zan ordered coldly, his dark eyes assessing her and apparently finding her wanting. Without knowing why exactly, Courtney froze immediately and hoped to the Gods he wouldn't kill her before she could finish her self-appointed goal.

Then, like a lightning bolt, it hit her. "How do you know my name?" she asked, and the look Michael and he exchanged, along with the sudden frozen figures of Isabel and Kyle told her she'd picked up on something important.

"We can't stay here for long, Max," Michael cut through the tension with a sigh, his form still trembling slightly after the abuse that Sirl had put him through. It didn't go unnoticed by the Skin that he'd completely neglected to answer her question. "There's bound to be more Skins coming the longer we stay here…and I don't know about you guys, but my tank's running on empty right now."

Max nodded and Courtney frowned; it wasn't that she'd expected the famed general Rath to openly disobey or belittle his king, but she was surprised at the almost tangible feel of trust and loyalty between the two of them.

Before she got a chance to think more about that unforeseen obstacle on the road to get Michael on the throne, Isabel spoke and distracted her. "We have to go home and rest, the husks are gone so the threat of the Skins is too, right? Maybe we'll –"

"That's not entirely true," Courtney interjected and hurried to continue when Isabel turned to look at her with narrowed eyes. "You have gotten to most of this town's big hitters, yes, but our leader is out of town...in fact he's on his way to your town…if he's not already there."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked, leaning a bit more heavily on Max's shoulders, his exhaustion becoming more apparent. "We haven't done anything to attract Nicholas' attention to us; we were supposed to be safe."

"Well," Courtney bit her lip anxiously before continuing quickly, "we've been keeping track of one of the original guards sent with you and recently the other one arrived. The surveillance team on them managed to intercept a conversation where your location came up. Sorry."

Courtney had heard a lot of curse words during her stay on Earth, but even she was slightly overwhelmed at the stream of expletives that erupted out of Isabel's mouth. Eventually, she regained her self-control a bit and turned away from Courtney to address her brother, "I told you Nasedo was gonna be trouble! He's betrayed us again; we have to do something about it."

Feeling like she was acting more like a broken record than anything else, Courtney cautiously interrupted yet again, "that's not entirely true either, Princess."

It was only the fact that she prided herself on her courage that Courtney managed to avoid flinching at the deathly glare she received for her continued interruptions. None the less, she spoke rather quickly so as not to infuriate the temperamental blonde. "The Guardian didn't betray you voluntarily. He was overheard during a shoot in L.A. Apparently; he's found work as the other Guardian, Cal Langley's, assistant or something. I guess they thought it was safe to talk in the middle of a busy movie production. He had no idea my race was even there."

"What about those nasty shedding skin calling cards you people tend to leave behind?" Kyle asked, his face screwed up in distaste at the thought and Courtney, feeling a little offended on her species' behalf, sneered coldly at him.

"Well, you have to get used to that, won't you, since you were the one that destroyed our solution to that pesky problem. Thanks for that by the way!"

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, Lady," Kyle growled right back, and Courtney forced herself to stay still when the wires at his feet started twitching ominously like rattlesnakes. She may be powerful, but she was by no means stupid enough to think that she could handle his peculiar ability alone.

"Hey! Relax," Max cut through their argument with a wave of his hand. His dark eyes were trained on Courtney, as he spoke again. "So Nicholas knows about Roswell. Does he know about the Granolith? Won't he return if you call him and say you've captured three of the Royal Antarians?"

Oh crap, Courtney damn near wilted under the penetrating gaze. For some reason, all of her earlier conviction about Zan being weak had completely left her and she had an inkling that she was going to feel something a lot worse when she told him the rest of her knowledge.

"…H-He doesn't know that there's three of you here…He thinks…" Courtney found it unbelievably hard to finish her next words, but she finally managed after a deep breath of calming air. "He thinks it's the perfect opportunity to capture your weaknesses while you're distracted here."

"Our weaknesses?" Michael frowned, glancing at an equally confused Isabel. Max on the other hand seemed to get what she was implying incredibly fast judging from the way he immediately tensed up.

The air around his body shimmered with undeniable power, and his growing rage was clear in his voice when he finished explaining things for her. "He's going after the two people that we were married to on Antar. He's after Isabel and Tess."

Isabel cursed, Michael frowned and to Courtney's surprise, Kyle rapidly paled and placed his hand on his sternum in an almost soothing manner. It didn't make what she had to do next any easier, and she stepped backwards a few steps before for the third time uttering the phrase, "That's not entirely true…"

"He's aware of Isabel's existence, true…but…err…" Courtney hated the show of fear she couldn't quite repress, and straightened up with all her effort, "he didn't know about the one you call Tess. I just found out about her earlier today during my private research; he thinks that the one you call Liz is the former queen."

"Liz?" The air crackled with power that made Kyle's earlier show seem like child's play, and to Courtney's private disgust and horror, she felt a piece of dried skin peel off her face and land on the ground, unable to survive any longer in the smothering atmosphere that Max put out.

"Y-Yes," she wanted to finish her tale as quickly as possible, before Max's abilities ended up killing her fragile husk entirely, "he's convinced that the only reason you'd risk exposing yourself as you did by healing this Liz back in September was because she was your queen. He's gonna try and convince her, and Isabel, to join him and if he can't…he'll…" Another piece of skin began to fall, and Courtney stopped, unable to take anymore.

Max completed her sentence with an eerie expression on his face, "he's going to kill them." A moment later, it was as if the power had been cut off, and Courtney found herself able to breathe evenly again but something told her that it was merely the calm before the storm, so she quickly volunteered to help when Max began to plan their escape from Copper Summit and the fastest way back to Roswell to save that fragile human, Liz, who had no idea what was coming for her.

If she hadn't hated him with a passion, Courtney might have felt sorry for Nicholas, but as it was, she simply agreed to follow the Antarians and kept her mouth shut.

Maria's POV

Maria was tired, tired to the bone in fact. Her every move was sluggish as she took the orders of the customers she hadn't managed to scare away with her make-up free face and glares. Liz was acting the same way she always did, but then again, Maria had always envied her best friend's ability to act cheerful when on the clock.

She acts like nothing's changed, Maria thought as she planted a couple of plates with burgers and fries in front of two people she vaguely recognized as seniors from her school. Glaring evilly at them when they smirked at her appearance, Maria was inwardly proud of herself when both young men instantly focused on their meal and left her alone to ponder how much her life had transformed lately.

Liz has changed more than I like, always looking so pensive and worried when she thinks she's not being watched. Alex is avoiding us both and Michael and the others are definitely going through something pretty horrible considering the tense energy I keep getting from his end, Maria deduced, before glancing over at the last person that knew about the whole Czechoslovakian thing; Tess.

And considering she'd one of them, Maria thought as she glanced over at the exhausted form of the curly haired hybrid, who 'd been nursing her blueberry and Tabasco infused pie for over an hour now, she doesn't look like she's as included as the others are. The human blonde forced herself not to think about Kyle's presence once again, still a little miffed about the way he'd somehow wormed his way right into the middle of things.

Eventually, Maria's kind disposition won over her pettiness and she walked over to the blonde, whom, if she was completely honest with herself, she kinda liked.

"You know," she greeted with the first real smile of what felt like ages, "that pie ain't gonna eat itself. I know it's not the flavor that's bad, 'cause my mom made it…Although, now that I think about it, Tabasco sauce can't really taste as good as you Czech's seem to think."

Tess flinched when Maria's voice seemingly woke her up from her own little world, but then she smiled as well, glancing down at the pie in question. "Don't knock it till you've tried it, that's all I'm saying."

Maria shrugged, her nose scrunched up in distaste. "Oh, no, I'm perfectly fine with the whole not burning my tongue while eating sweets thing, but thanks." She paused before she decided to just go with her gut and do what she came for. "Actually, I wanted to know if you're okay? You look worried."

Tess glanced around, probably making sure they weren't overheard, Maria correctly assumed, before she leaned over the counter and murmured, "I think something's not right with the others…I can feel Ky—"

Maria held up a hand and leaned closer herself, "Are you telling me that Kyle Freaking Valenti's connected with you, like Michael is with me?"

For one moment, Tess looked completely abashed, like she'd done something very wrong, but Maria smiled in relief and stopped the hybrid from panicking. "That's great. It explains everything!"

"What?" Tess looked utterly confused so Maria hurried to continue.

"That totally explains why they're letting him in so soon. I mean, I guess it's a little sexist now that I think about it, 'cause Liz and I knew about the bond thing first, but they're probably just worried that our poor little girly hearts can't take as much as a guy can so…" Maria trailed off, slowly moving away from overjoyed to offended. "That's actually really uncool, 'cause we knew first and I can guarantee that I can whoop people's asses a lot better than Valenti can."

"What's my boy gone and done now?" Maria froze alongside Tess at the familiar voice of Sheriff Valenti. They both turned a fraction as the older man slid onto a stool next to Tess with a polite smile on his weathered face. If the sight of the lawman hadn't terrified Maria beyond reason, she would have noticed the almost desperate need in his eyes to know more about his estranged son, she would have taken in the dark bags under his eyes and his sad appearance indicating he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders.

But as it was, Maria didn't see any of that; instead, she put on a completely fake smile, pulling out her order pad. "Hi, Sheriff…So what can I get you today? We've got some coconut cream pies that my mom just dropped off an hour ago, if you're interested? Or are you interested in a warm meal; there's a discount on the Will Smith Special today if you order two sets of fries?"

Sheriff Valenti looked bemused at the tense stance that Maria couldn't quite fight back, but he just ordered a coffee to go with a small slump of his shoulders. Obviously her lack of knowledge about his son wasn't what he'd hoped for.

Maria smiled and was about to turn to get the man his coffee when suddenly, Tess grabbed at her stomach with a low moan of pain. Her face twisted in obvious agony and thinking fast, Maria signaled to Liz knowing she was the quick thinker of their group.

Sheriff Valenti frowned with concern at the girl by his side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Miss Harding?"

"Hi Sheriff," Liz breezed over, looking completely unconcerned and once more, Maria envied her best friend that ability to act as if nothing was wrong, "Tess warned me this would happen, Sir. She's having female problems and they always affect her rather harshly. Isn't that right, Tess?"

As the sheriff paled at the mention of the dreaded monthly problem, Tess nodded frantically. Maria walked around the counter, intending to help Liz get Tess into the backroom, but in that moment her insides erupted into a burning, stabbing pain that made everything else utterly inconsequential.

Oh my God, she mentally screamed out her distress. It was purely by instinct that she managed to keep herself from reacting visibly, knowing that the sheriff wouldn't believe that she too suddenly developed 'female-issues'. She caught Liz's eyes, and it was a true testament to their friendship that the brunette immediately caught on to what was going on. She quickly handed the sheriff the coffee that Maria had placed on the counter with a beaming smile that barely looked fake.

"Here you go, Sheriff. I'll take over from here. I'll tell Kyle you said hi, if I see him, okay?"

A moment later, Liz had Tess in her arms and was leading her back to the break room with an outward calm that Maria would once again have envied if she wasn't too busy using all her power to remain expressionless from the assault she was undergoing.

What's happening to you, Michael? She thought, her heart pounding with fear at the instinctive knowledge that no matter how bad it was for her, Michael was taking the brunt of it to spare her. In the next second, the pain intensified and Maria couldn't quite withhold a small whimper of pain. Fortunately for her, the sheriff was halfway out the door and next thing she knew, Liz was next to her with Alex of all people towering behind her.

His long arm reached out over Liz's shoulder and grasped her hand firmly and suddenly the pain became much more bearable, allowing Maria to let out a breath of profound relief. Alex staggered for a bit and Maria looked up at him with worry, only to realize that somehow her childhood friend was absorbing the pain and her natural selfless personality quickly acted by shoving his touch off. She almost welcomed the pain as it flooded over her in an instant.

"Maria!" Alex groaned, running a hand over his sweaty forehead. Clearly, the pain had surprised him. Liz looked between them with furrowed brows, seemingly not really understanding what had just happened and just dragged the two of them back to the break room for privacy.

Liz's father merely waved in understanding, when Liz said it was an emergency that needed all of them. Agnes the sour waitress however scowled at having that many more sections to fill.

0o0o0

Ten minutes later, found the quartet sitting in Liz's bedroom with a recovering Maria and Tess. The agony they'd suffered had abruptly ended, leaving them feeling drained beyond anything either of them had ever experienced before. Although, Tess did mutter something about feeling just as tired as if she'd just undergone one of Nasedo's grueling training exercises. She'd flushed right after, still not comfortable thinking about her once upon a time guardian after his actions.

Maria eyed Alex intensely while Liz was busy comforting Tess, trying to explain as much as she could about the bond that they now all had. She didn't think much about the fact that Tess' bond with Kyle was new, and thus didn't explain his long time involvement with the other Czechs. No, her focus was on her gangly friend, who didn't seem to be willing to meet her eyes for some reason.

Finally, Maria's lack of patience won out and she slapped him weakly on his bicep. "Ow!" he hissed, rubbing the abused limb gingerly while Maria rolled her eyes.

"Oh please," she shook her head, "I barely touched you, you big baby. Now quit stalling and tell me what the hell just happened out there."

At her words, Tess and Liz stopped their murmured conversation and redirected their full attention to Alex, who flinched.

"Yeah," Liz spoke softly, eying the now squirming Alex closely with her intelligent brown eyes, "now that I think about it, you were the one to run into my room and get me to help Maria. I wouldn't have known something was wrong with her too if you hadn't told me. Why didn't you just buy the period excuse like Sheriff Valenti did?"

"I…uh…I…" Alex hesitated, and if Maria hadn't been so drained and sore she would've smacked him for real this time. She settled for sneering coldly with a feeling of betrayal warming her insides. Surprisingly, it seemed like Alex could read her because he snapped his eyes to her and flinched ever so slightly.

"Maria quit it, please. I'm not trying to hurt you here, okay!"

Blinking, Maria slowly reached out to grasp Alex's shaking hand, but he pulled away before she could touch him. "Alex, I'm sorry," she said, feeling hurt despite her friend's words.

Alex jumped to his feet, running a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "Look, if I tell you this, you have to swear not to freak out and believe me I'll know if you freak out on me." He practically glared at all three girls, and Liz, being the automatic leader in these types of situations promptly nodded.

"We won't," she promised and Maria nodded despite her instinctive knowledge of herself. Her ability to remain calm was stunted in some situations, so she reached into her uniform's skirt pocket and withdrew a small vial of calming drops that she always carried on her person.

"Yeah, we won't" she repeated softly after placing a few bitter drops on her tongue and shuddering in distaste. "We'll try at least."

There was a brief, but heavy silence, where Maria and Tess tiredly leaned up against Liz's sides on the bed, waiting for Alex to reveal whatever he was trying to say. Finally, after a few minutes, he managed to say something that was completely unexpected.

"After I nearly died…No, wait…uhm, to put it simply, I've got powers now."

Maria tried, she really tried, but she just didn't quite know how to process her new knowledge and her usual M.O. took over. "What? You've got powers! You're a Czechoslovakian too, aren't you? How have you kept it secret all these—"

"MARIA!" Alex bellowed and it was almost as if her mouth snapped shut on its own, the raw force in his tone sent out invisible ripples of power that made the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. Tess moaned pathetically as if she could feel it much more clearly than Liz, who merely frowned and leaned forward sharply, gaining their gangly friend's attention.

"Calm down, Alex." Her voice seemed to penetrate his abrupt anger and Maria felt able to breathe again, absentmindedly rubbing the spot where she could still feel the pained exhaustion of Michael. The weakness she could feel frustrated her and worried her all at the same time. It'd only been a short while since she'd seen him and they still hadn't completely cleared the air of everything that'd happened during Liz and Max's capture, no matter how at peace she'd been that first night.

I never realized how much I actually depend on his invisible strength to calm me these days, Maria thought as she sent a slightly sheepish, but apologetic smile at her friend.

"Sorry, Whitman," she murmured and gently reached out to pat his arm, but to hers, and the others shock, Alex jumped backwards and tumbled to the ground in an attempt to avoid her touch. The mere thought of it, hurt Maria's feelings but she tried not to show it visibly. The quick pang in her heart didn't lessen though.

Alex's head snapped up in her direction, eyes wide in nervous eagerness. "No, no, Maria, I'm sorry it's not you, I promise. It's the powers; I think Isabel called it a touch and emotional telepath or something. I can absorb people's emotions all the time, but when there's touch involved it's like it's intensified tenfold and I soak up the feeling and I'm still woozy from when I tried doing it downstairs earlier when you felt that horrible thing from Michael's end."

Maria and the others listened attentively and he continued with a soft sigh as he planted himself in Liz's desk chair, "The thing is, I feel everything all the time now and I'm not really great at it yet and…" Alex suddenly looked years older and almost frightened. Maria had to repress the urge to go hug him as he added in a shameful whisper, "and to make things even better, I seem to be able to somehow project emotions to other people, making a deadly weapon out of it if I'm not careful. I almost killed Isabel…If Max hadn't been there I'd…I owe Max my life."

The air thickened as if Alex was slowly sucking the oxygen out and replacing it with invisible electricity that would burn ones skin off before sucking the energy out of your body, and Maria couldn't move. Her sore body completely forgotten as the adrenaline floored her, but still, she couldn't move away from whatever it was Alex was doing. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the echoing panic in Tess and Liz's eyes.

Once again, it ended up being Liz, who distracted Alex enough to realize that he was projecting something and hurting us. He groaned and banged his head down on the desk, muttering apologies repeatedly.

"You're gonna figure out how to handle this, Alex. We all believe you're capable. I trust you just as much as I've always done."

Maria jumped in, her friend's obvious self-loathing hitting her hard as she tried to reassure him just like Liz, "She's right, Alex. You will be a lot more badass than any of the bullies at school will ever expect now, but we still trust you without doubt."

Alex straightened up when Tess added quietly that she too wasn't afraid of him and he looked gobsmacked. If she'd taken a pan to his head and smacked him hard, Maria didn't think he'd look as shocked as he did in that moment.

"You really do, don't you? I feel your nervousness, but you're not afraid of me. You're worried about the guys and Isabel…Not me potentially snapping and killing you."

"Oh, please," Maria would've have rolled her eyes if they weren't pounding in her skull, "I don't care how much you can make my insides curl up in fear, 'cause I still have pictures of you in your volunteer uniform at the hospital, remember? It's gonna look good on the entrance to the school if you bug me too much."

Alex laughed and his reaction brought genuine smiles to the girls' tired faces and Maria enjoyed the brief moment of peace, before her worry about Michael and the others seeped back into her mind and took over.

She would've dived into it completely if she hadn't caught the sudden and very intense look that Alex exchanged with Liz. Her eyes were narrowed with something that looked like suspicion and Maria forced herself to pay more attention to the present.

"I have to know a few things before you head home, Alex," Liz said, after a few moments of quiet and Maria frowned with confusion when Alex immediately got red ears and began scratching his right wrist; a clear sign that he was about to lie if pushed too far. Alex was great at many things, but lying wasn't one of them and he had many, many obvious tells, like blushing and scratching his wrist for instance.

"What do you wanna know?"

"Why did you get powers so soon? As far as I know, it usually takes a minimum of one year for the powers of the healed to manifest."

"Wait, what?" Maria sat up straight and glared over at Tess for conformation, not bothering to question Liz about her knowledge because she knew from a lifetime of experience that Liz Parker had ways of obtaining information that no one else had hopes of getting.

Surprisingly it was Tess that ended up answering and Maria could do nothing but stare at her blankly. "It's the prize of the healing, it's something Nasedo told me about once when I tried learning more about my first life and my," her eyes darter over to Liz, who merely nodded encouragingly, "husband. Apparently, on Antar Max's ability to heal was legendary and unheard of before. We can all heal a little, but when he was born, his abilities manifested quite early on and according to Nasedo, his talents were so strong and his healings so intense that he made his patients better than before. I don't know much about it and neither did my guardian, but evidently, it's something that Max's human DNA couldn't squash out. He was really, really powerful when he was Zan, and he probably would've gotten even stronger if Khivar's forces and Viland…if he hadn't been killed."

Tess smiled and continued with a bittersweet look in her eyes, "It's funny really. Nasedo always said that Zan was weak, that he wasted his powers on the wrong people and didn't use his potential right, that even the Antarians saw him as a weak king with too little comprehension of reality and now, across the universe and with the DNA of a inferior species, he's stronger than all of us…Got to love the irony."

Not really liking the 'inferior species' comment, but too focused to be truly offended, Maria leaned forward and asked the question she didn't really want the answer too, "So does that mean we'll all get powers too? I mean, we've all been healed by Max at some point."

Tess bit her lip before she nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess, although I was as confused about the quickness of the manifestation of Alex's powers as the rest of you. By all accounts, it should be Liz to get them first."

Alex shrugged, "it's not hard to guess why. If you're right that Max's powers grow continually, then it makes sense. Besides, he used a lot more juice for my healing than Liz's if I remember correctly."

They all nodded, deep in thought for a while, before Maria took up the conversation again.

"So got any more secrets to share? You might as well get it all out now before we part ways for the day."

In an instant, Alex stiffened with a look like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Clearly there was more, but he denied it vehemently. If it wasn't for the fact that Maria still felt weak she would have continued the interrogation. In the end she hoped that she'd get another chance in the future to really question him.

He looks so burdened by whatever it is and it's not a good look on him, Maria thought as she took out her cell and called her mom to let her know she'd sleep at Liz's place. She was too tired to go home and knew that Liz wouldn't mind the company.

I just hope that Michael and the others will be back soon so we can finally relax again…I mean, Maria sighed and burrowed herself closer to Liz, who chuckled and lifted her injured arm out of the way, we're definitely due for some peace and quiet soon.

Alex's POV

It was the emotions that woke him up; the bitter taste of anxiety and rage that grew from within him. Groaning quietly at the pain in his neck from falling asleep in Liz's small desk chair, Alex looked out the window only to discover that it was dark outside and he checked his watch. They'd all been sleeping for a few hours.

"You feel it too," Liz's voice surprised him, and he bit back a curse when he jolted and banged his knees into the desk. Making sure that he hadn't woken Tess or Maria up, Alex met Liz's serious looking gaze.

"I woke up a few minutes ago after feeling practically nothing from my connection with Max," she explained and slowly extracted her limbs from the tangled mess of girls on her bed and began getting up as she added, "I recognize his attempts at shielding me, so I didn't think much of it since he's always been very protective, but I guess he's not that great at hiding for long periods of time and given your new powers, I think you felt it too somehow. Sorry about that by the way."

"It's not your fault. Despite everything, I'd rather be alive to be woken up randomly than six feet under like I would've been if Max hadn't healed me."

"True, I just sometimes forget that it was the only other alternative available, you know?" Liz smiled and in that moment, Alex realized that the brunette looked a lot more mature than he remembered seeing her. Rationally, he knew it wasn't surprising given the way her life had gone ever since last September, but still, it was hard to see firsthand.

And if she's changedthat much, what about me? Alex wondered, but shook off his thoughts when Liz spoke again; bending down to grab her flip-flops from under her bed.

"I feel like stretching my legs, get to use some of that energy that's churning in my gut, if you get my drift. Wanna join me? We can talk about what you're not telling us," Alex tensed, unable to think of a good lie, because how did one go about revealing that they'd lived before and that their loved ones had travelled through time to save them, thus mucking stuff up in the process?

It's not exactly something we can chat casually about while taking a stroll, now is it? Alex mentally rolled his eyes at the very idea, just as Liz continued with a small sigh.

"Or, since that idea obviously freaks you out given the feelings you're suddenly shooting out, we could just take a walk and not say anything at all?"

That suggestion was much better and Alex promptly agreed, standing up to grab the light jacket he'd tossed on the floor earlier that evening.

Ten minutes later, Alex was trailing Liz down the stairs and out the backdoor into the small alley after Maria and Tess had both declined to join them. Liz had gently shook both the girls awake to ask them to come with them outside, but they both said that their bodies weren't up for any kind of movement, still being sore from whatever it was that Michael and Kyle had let seep through from their end.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while until Alex couldn't control his doubled dose of curiosity and asked the question that Liz obviously was thinking about as well. "Wonder what's got Max so fired up, huh?"

Smiling softly, Liz shook her head a little. "Honestly, I'm not sure I want to know right now."

"Yeah, I hear you," Alex grinned awkwardly, fighting off a wave of guilt when Liz looked positively dejected as she finished, "Besides, Max keeps so many secrets and he'll never tell me if I ask. That I've learned by now at least."

They walked down Main Street for a while each caught up in their own thoughts, and in Alex's case, guilt. He was busy trying not to project the feelings, using some of the relaxation techniques that Kyle Valenti of all people had given him, spouting something or other about having used them a lot when he first found out in his original timeline.

It's odd to think that in another life one of my old bullies turned into one of my best friends, not to mention a peace loving Buddhist. Of course, in that other life I ended up dead because of Tess Harding, so I'll take this one. The memory of Isabel's robotic tale of his death and Tess' involvement tried to enter his weary mind, but Alex decided to focus on Kyle's advice instead. He genuinely liked the Tess of their current lives and didn't want to sully his still new friendship with her by the memory of that other girl in a life he didn't even remember.

So consumed by battling his irritating powers into a somewhat submissive state, Alex failed to notice that Liz had stopped dead a few steps back. Frowning questioningly, he turned back to her and was about to ask what was wrong, when he caught both the sight and feel of her sudden panic.

Instantly, Alex ran back to her side and followed her line of sight with his heart pounding in his chest and his adrenaline level rising second by second. When his eyes landed on what had freaked his normally so composed friend out, Alex felt confused.

Standing on the other side of the street were two people; a tall skinny man, whose hooknose had clearly been broken more than once, with dark eyes and wrinkled skin. The other one was a kid, a young boy that couldn't possibly be more than thirteen, perhaps fourteen years old. He wore normal teenage clothing, with his dark hair gelled to look windblown, he looked completely normal, but Alex couldn't deny after one quick glance back at Liz that her eyes were locked on the kid and not the more menacing looking man next to him.

"Liz?" Alex asked, feeling conflicting emotions; he could still sort of taste the echoing anger that ran through Liz from Max's end, while Isabel's feelings through his own bond were fearful and suspicious. Adding to this was the overriding panic that seemed to rob Liz of her ability to speak. In the next moment, though, Alex was consumed by a rush of pure unadulterated hate and smugness. He looked over at the weird kid, brow furrowed in concentration.

The feelings emitting from that kid were by no means normal; in fact, they seemed more inhuman than anything else he'd ever 'tasted' so to speak. Not even when he'd been consumed by his own emotions and lashed out at Isabel in school had Alex been so close to losing himself and that scared him more than anything else ever had.

"Alex," Liz voice sounded as if far away, "we have to run. Please, trust me. We have to hide before they get to us."

The much smaller girl grabbed hold of him and Alex found himself halfway dragged further and further away from the creepy duo. He only rediscovered his senses when the kid opened his mouth and called after them, "You can run, but you can't hide." After that started picking up his pace, silently thankful for all the Dodgeball and running around in P.E. that he'd done lately, because something told him that if they didn't keep running, things would get a lot worse than anything he'd ever experienced before.

Let's hope, he thought desperately praying for help, sending as much as he could of his emotions through to Isabel and gasping for air as he rounded yet another corner right after Liz, we can stall things enough for the others to help us or else we'll be dead before sunrise…

TBC…

A/N Big thanks for any and all comments, I'm itching to hear what you think!

Until Next Time

Ditte Mai