Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I'm not making any money with this story. All Roswellian characters are property of Jason Katims.
Summary: AU What if at the end of Destiny, Liz didn't go to Florida and stay with her aunt for the summer? Instead, she ran away to California, cutting off all ties with everyone, her parents, Maria, Alex…everyone. However, three years later, Max reenters her life, determined to find and bring Liz back.
Prologue"My son, you were the beloved leader of our people. I have sent with you your young bride," the hologram of their mother gestured towards Tess, who smiling smugly, stepped closer to Max.
I gasped while my heart pounded crazily against my chest. My head throbbed while a wave of nausea engulfed me. Max's destiny rested with Tess. Instantly Nasedo's words flashed unexpectedly through my mind. Tess and Max were made to be together.
"My daughter," Max and Isabel's mother continued as she turned towards Isabel and pointed at Michael, "the man you were betrothed to and your brother's second-in-command."
Without knowing of the painful, unseen affect that her cutting words had upon my heart, their mother proceeded to reveal the aliens' past lives, how their essence had been recreated, sent to Earth, and their destiny. A destiny I couldn't share.
As a stab of jealousy tore through my heart, my eyes strayed to where Max and Tess's hands almost touched. Quickly I averted my gaze and squeezed my eyes shut, my stomach tightening with a sickening sensation. Why was this happening? If destiny had placed Max with someone else, how could he and I have become so close? I had fallen in love with him and they expected me to give him up just like that? Pressing my lips together, I glanced back towards the four aliens staring into space, shock evident on their faces at what they had just heard.
"I always knew there was something out there, but I didn't know how important it was," Michael commented softly to himself.
"Things will never be the same, but whatever happens, we have to stay together," Max instructed as he glanced at Michael, Isabel, and Tess in turn. "It's the four of us now."
"I knew this was meant to be," Tess purred as her arms snaked around Max's neck and reeled him towards her, tilting her lips up to meet his. Placing his hands on her arms, Max lowered his head.
Hastily, I glanced the opposite way, unable to bear the sight of them kissing.
I didn't belong here.
Reluctantly I retreated towards the exit, my eyes burning with unshed tears, feeling more alienated among Max, Isabel, and Michael than I'd ever felt before. With every step, which took me farther and farther away from Max, I knew nothing would or could ever be same between us now. His destiny rested with someone else now.
I could no longer be apart of his life.
Just as I reached the exit, Max exclaimed,
"No!"
I jumped at the sharpness in his voice. Before I could go any further, his fingers closed around my arm. Hesitantly, I glanced over my shoulder back at him and a lump formed in my throat at the expression of distress in his eyes.
"Look, everything I told you before is still true."
Quickly I squelched the happiness flooding my heart. He had a destiny. "Max," I rasped, my voice barely above a whisper, while struggling to keep it steady, "you do have a destiny. You just…heard it. I can't…stand in the way of it."
Shifting my gaze, I looked over his shoulder and spotted Michael and Isabel watching us, pained expressions flickering across their faces. Tears spilled over and streamed down Isabel's cheeks, her thoughts almost definitely on Alex and how she was going to break the news. A distant, far away look clouded Michael's eyes. Both knew and understood the unspoken suffering gathering in my bleeding heart at pushing Max away. Unbidden, my glaze flickered towards Tess. Her eyes narrowed, envious that I had stolen the heart of the man she married in another life. Didn't she understand how much it hurt me to leave Max, so he could fulfill his destiny with her? Or did she only care about herself and her future?
Pain flared up in Max's devastated eyes and his grip tightened on my arm. "But you mean everything to me."
Unable to stop myself, I reached up, stroked his cheek, and trailed my fingers across his face, memorizing it. His eyes, following my every movement, desperately begged me not to turn away from him. Although I couldn't deny him anything, I couldn't, wouldn't allow him to give up his destiny, just to stay with me. His planet's needs outweighed my own selfish desires and wants.
Uncertainly, I raised myself up, pressing my lips against his. His hands fell limply to his sides as he responded, but neither of us felt the spark of passion we always generated. Slowly, I pulled my lips away from his, met his sorrowful eyes, placed a hand on his chest, and pushed him away. If I didn't leave now, I never would.
"Good-bye Max," I whispered, then physically tore myself away from him, and hurled myself out of the cave, out of Max's life.
"Liz!" he shouted and took off after me.
My stomach twisted and I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my skin, feeling the sun's rays beating down upon me. The sand crunched under my feet as I cautiously made my way down the mountain slope, ignoring Max's approaching footsteps. Tears collected beneath my tightly closed eyelids. Why are you doing this to me, Max? He had a destiny…with Tess. He and I…we couldn't be together. Instantly the hidden truth behind the words he had spoken to me during the winter heat wave, when he had explained why we couldn't be together, flashed through my mind.
"Liz, I think that what I'm afraid of isn't that we try this and it works out really badly. What I'm afraid of is we try it and it works out really well. I'm afraid of feeling everything that I know I would feel. Because I know it's not meant to be. And somewhere down the line, we're gonna get hurt."
He had been right.
We had gotten hurt.
We weren't meant to be together.
He and Tess were.
If only I had listened.
"Liz!" he called from behind me. Refusing to answer, I quickened my pace, flinching at the brokenness and desperation seeping through his voice. "Liz, wait."
Unwillingly my feet ceased moving as I reluctantly turned my gaze back towards him, my eyes urging him to stop. He had to let me go. While holding my gaze, he shook his head slightly, his eyes, black with misery, begging, pleading, praying I wouldn't leave. Oh, Max! Unheard screams of torture erupted from my heart. Please let me go. I couldn't do this anymore. It hurts too much! Painfully I wrenched myself away and raced out into the desert, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Not once did I look back.
That night while standing in front of my mirror and combing through my shoulder length black curls, Max's face flashed unbidden through my mind. Swiftly my hand covered my mouth, squelching a gasp, as a violent stab of pain shot through my heart. Wrapping my arms around my waist, I slumped against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground, my robe pooling around my feet. Burying my face, I tightened my grip around my knees. Unable to stop, I began rocking back and forth. My vision blurred as I repeatedly heard Max's mother's words over and over in my mind. Desperately I struggled to block out the images of Max and Tess together, but they swarmed around me, like taunting ghosts.
I cupped my hand over my lips and images of Max and my first kiss flashed before my eyes. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pressed my hands against my lips, squelched my sobs, and wished things could go back to the way they were. Back to the time before Tess entered our lives, ruined my blossoming relationship with Max, and stole him from me.
"You're the one, Liz…"
The words he had spoken to me that rainy night in the Crash Down rang in my memory. I had believed he meant them too, until I caught him later.
Shortly after he had left, I had returned to locking down the Crash Down. However, when I went to lock the front door, a bolt of lightning flashed. My heart plummeted. I wanted to run, close my eyes, and turn away. But I couldn't. Across the street I spotted Max…in Tess's arms, his lips firmly sealed against hers and their arms locked around each other in a passionate embrace.
Paralyzed, I stood there, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to cry. My greatest fears had been confirmed. Ever since that witch strolled into Roswell, I knew, felt something dangerous about her. The many times she had manipulated Max didn't help any either.
Ripping myself away from the window, I fled up stairs, threw myself across my bed, and buried my face in my pillow, choking back the tears.
When I arrived at the Crash Down the following day to start my shift, I froze in mid-step at the sight of Max, Michael, and Isabel sitting in their usual booth. Uneasily I tucked my hair behind my ear and stalked by them, without a second glance at Max. He panicked and hurried after me. In the back, he tried to talk to me, but I coldly informed him I'd seen him with Tess.
His face paled.
Desperately, he struggled to explain how he felt about Tess—his attraction to her wasn't human or real. Ironic how easy it had been for him to pour his soul out to me last night, yet now he couldn't form two coherent sentences. Had he really meant any of those words?
I stared at him, wanting to believe, but didn't dare. Before my grandmother died, I promised her I would follow my heart. No matter where it took me, I would trust it. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do that this time.
Then when Max told me he needed me to have faith in him because he saw things while kissing Tess, my heart sank even further. So I wasn't as special as I thought. If he got flashes from Tess just like he got from me, what else could he do with her that he couldn't with me? Hurt beyond words, I turned and had fled up the stairs, the determined tears, which I had managed to ignore up until now, finally forced their way out and began making their way down my cheeks.
I couldn't stay here anymore.
The thought unexpectedly flashed through my mind, waking me up from my memories. Everywhere I turned something reminded me of Max or my involvement with the aliens and their secret. I had to leave. Go some place where every time I went around a corner, walked down the streets, or attended school, I wouldn't think of Max.
Quickly, I grabbed a backpack and began gathering some of my belongings and all the money I had saved up from working and tips. Before I left, I wrote a note for my parents, explaining why I had done what I did. Hoisting my backpack over my shoulder, I pushed open my window and took one last glance at the place, which had been my home for the last seventeen years.
An uneasy sensation flooded my stomach as I stared at the various items I had left behind. Silently my eyes lingered on a picture of my parents and I, all of us grinning. Closing my eyes, I recalled that photo being taken last Christmas, before any of this had happened…before everything had fallen apart.
Could I really do this? My leaving would destroy my parents. After my grandmother passed, several times Mom had come into my room at night and would spent countless hours staring at me.
Swallowing hard, I forced myself to climb out the window and down the fire escape. I needed a fresh start—one without Max Evans in it.
Quietly, I dropped onto the ground, shifted my backpack weight, and took one final look at my home, before stealing away into the night.
Author's Note: Tell me what you think. Should I continue or would it be a waste of time? Please read and review. I always enjoy reading your comments; they give me inspiration to write more.