Title: This Brilliant Dance

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry to make you all wait so long, but since this is the final chapter in this story, I rewrote it several times to get it just the way I wanted… Anyway, there is an author's note at the end of the chapter that you should all probably read.

The song lyrics at the beginning and end of the chapter are from This Brilliant Dance by Dashboard Confessionals.

Chapter One Hundred: This Brilliant Dance

And breathing is a foreign task
And thinking is just too much to ask
And you're measuring your minutes by a clock that's blinking eights.

"It's humming," Isabel whispered, reaching out tentatively and placing her fingers on the smooth surface of the Granolith. The blue material seemed to ripple underneath her fingers, and she jerked her hand back, awestruck.

Michael placed the two orbs and the Destiny Book near the back of the chamber and then joined the others around the Granolith. He kept glancing over at Max, trying to read his expression. They'd climbed through the mangled remains of the pods to get into this room, and he couldn't help but wonder why exactly Max had submitted the membranous material to his wrath.

Tess glanced over at Michael. He was still holding the strange black device they had taken from Pierce. She flinched as a memory of the white room washed through her mind, and looked away sharply.

Isabel, catching sight of Tess' movements, frowned at Michael and asked, "Why do you still have that? We can store it with the orbs and the Book."

But Michael wordlessly pointed to an engraving at the base of the Granolith. Carved into the metal was an indentation in the same pentagon shape. It seemed to match exactly in size the black device in Michael's hand.

"What do you think it does?" Tess asked, curiosity overcoming her fears. "And if it belongs here, how did Pierce get it?"

"Maybe when our spaceship crashed, it was thrown from the ship. The agents at the scene might have found it," Michael hypothesized. He shot a quick look at Tess and asked, "Pierce did say it was found at the crash site, right?"

Tess nodded, wincing as the movement caused a jolt of pain to rise up her neck and into the base of her head. She rubbed her neck absently, still staring at the Granolith.

"Nasedo said that the Granolith was powerful. He said it is what our enemies are looking for," Max mused, his eyes moving from the black device in Michael's hand to the blue cone at the top of the Granolith. "I wonder why it is so important."

"I can feel its power," Michael answered. "I can feel… a pull to it."

"What do we do about that?" Isabel asked, pointing to the pentagon-shaped object Michael was still holding. "Do we see what happens if we put it on the Granolith?"

"We need to be careful," Michael cautioned. "We don't know what it does, and…" He didn't need to finish the sentence, they all knew what he was thinking. They really couldn't afford any more problems right now, not after having barely survived the last two days.

Max thought idly to himself that it was a strange role-reversal for Isabel to be the one suggesting something reckless and Michael to be the one preaching prudence. But he agreed more with Isabel, he was curious to see what this device did. It was as though the Granolith had a hold on him, over-riding his better judgment and feeding his inquisitiveness.

"It is important to know what the Granolith does," Tess muttered. "Especially if others are after it." She sat back down on the hard dirt floor, moving slightly away from the cone in the center of the room. Her thoughts were still on Kyle, and she wondered how he was coping with the mind-warp. He had seemed fine after she modified his memory, and she knew that no damage had been done to his mind, but…

"Was there anything in the book about it?" Max asked suddenly, glancing at Michael.

The hybrid General blinked for a moment, then asked, "You mean that Destiny Book?" When Max nodded, he frowned and said pointedly, "That book is in another language, Maxwell. One that none of us can read."

Max rolled his eyes and rose to his feet. "I know that," he said. "I meant where there any drawings or anything?" When Michael didn't answer, he walked over to the Destiny Book and lifted it, flipping over the metallic cover and turning through the pages.

"Find anything?"

Max sighed. "On the second to last page, there is a sketch that looks like the Granolith… sort of." He showed it to the others, and they all nodded. It was an etching of the Granolith at the bottom of the page, and above it was an inverted pyramid that rose from the center of the cone all the way to the top of the page.

Isabel took the Book from Max's hand. She stared at the picture, then said, "The device Michael is holding is like an ignition. You attack it, and then there is something else that works as a key… A crystal, maybe? Something like that…"

"How do you know this?" Tess asked skeptically, giving Isabel a confused look.

Isabel blinked and put down the Book. "I… I don't know. It just… came to me when I looked at the drawing." She gave a half-shrug and looked over at Michael. "I guess that means we can put that thing into the Granolith. Without the key-object, nothing will happen."

Michael raised an eyebrow and said, "We're basing this all on a random feeling that Izzy had?" Isabel glared at him, and he explained quickly, "I'm not saying that she isn't right. It's just… how do we know that this device won't do something on its own? How do we know Isabel's feelings were complete?"

"We don't," Tess agreed slowly. "We don't know much of anything about this right now."

"Maybe this will give us answers," Max suggested.

Michael hesitated, then muttered under his breath, "But it won't undo the past." Fortunately, Max didn't hear him, but Isabel did, and she gave him a sharp look. Although Michael had a point, that they shouldn't rush into anything as a way of distracting themselves from what had happened, he shouldn't risk saying something like that in front of Max. The last thing the hybrid King needed right now was a reminder of Pierce's untimely demise.

Tess winced again, this time from a sore ache that was spreading through her shoulders. She felt Max's piercing gaze on her, but did not meet his eyes.

Michael sighed. He didn't really know what to do at the moment, and judging by the fact that none of the others had made any emphatic pleas for one course of action over another, he could assume that they didn't either.

He crouched down, holding the black pentagon a few centimeters over the carving in the base of the Granolith. Ever so slowly, he pushed it forward, feeling a sudden shock of electricity rushing up his arm as the two materials made contact. The black pentagon began to pulse in his hand, then it fused with the metal of the Granolith's base, creating a seamless surface. The bulbs around the side began to flash, and the pentagon center started to glow an eerie red.

Then there was a burst of white light, leaving the Granolith and flooding the room, passing through the four teenage aliens. It faded away almost as soon as it had come, leaving a dead silence in its wake.

Tess rubbed her eyes and glanced around. Max and Isabel both looked shocked, and Michael was turning his head in all directions, as though expecting something else to happen. But the white light had not appeared to activate any strange chain of events.

Isabel glanced at the black pentagon. The bulbs on the outside where no longer flashing, and the rounded center pulsed a dull blue light until it finally faded away as well.

"That was… odd," Max said into the silence.

Somewhere far away from them all, a signal was being received, and the fate of two planets and four hybrids was about to be irrevocably altered.

School the next day seemed to be a strange and hazy dream. Tess walked through it, almost entirely unaware of what was happening around her. The sun was shinning, the cloudless blue sky stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction, the students buzzed around her with energy and excitement knowing that the school year was almost at a close. But she was oblivious to it all.

In the hallway, she held her books tightly against her chest and watched as Jessica and Trudy chatted easily about some new movie that they had seen. Kyle passed her and gave a smile and a nod, an indication that he had no memory of anything that had happened.

Isabel approached her quietly, pausing in front of Tess and giving her a searching look. "How are you doing?" she asked in an undertone.

Tess looked at Isabel. "How do you think?" she snapped irritably before turning away.

"I was just asking," Isabel said defensively, holding her hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean to intrude…"

Tess huffed and said, "Of course you meant to intrude." She looked over her shoulder, glaring at Isabel. "I don't want to talk about it," she hissed in a low tone. "Not to Max, not to Michael, and not to you."

"Hey," Chris called, appearing at the end of the hallway and walking swiftly towards Tess. "How are you? I tried to call you think weekend, but you didn't answer your phone."

"I've been busy," Tess retorted. "Why does everyone want to know where I was?"

Chris shot a look at Trudy, who titled her head to the side and said in an undertone, "She's in a bad mood."

"I'd be in a much better move if everyone just left me alone," Tess muttered, running a hand through her hair and letting out a shaky breath. She stalked away, leaving Chris to stare after her in concern and bewilderment.

"She was fine when I spoke to her last week," Chris said, unable to understand what had caused the rapid change in his girlfriend.

"She does that sometimes," Jessica commented. "Mood swings… you get used to it."

Chris looked as though there was something he wanted to say, but in the end he simply shook his head and walked away. Trudy watched him go, then slanted a look at Isabel, silently questioning her. Isabel stared back, her face a picture of blank innocence.

"Tess might have mood swings," Trudy murmured, "but she is rarely as mean as she's been today. Something must have happened. She almost made a freshman cry!"

Isabel crossed her arms over her chest and didn't say anything. Her family was falling apart, and she had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

"Max broke up with you?" Maria whispered, pulling Liz away from the crowd of student around her locker. "Why?"

"He says he's not safe to be around," Liz replied, wiping away the tears that pooled in her eyes as she thought about her last conversation with her now ex-boyfriend. "I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen to anything I said. He… he just left."

"Lizzie, he needs some time, but he'll be coming back to you soon," Maria said firmly, confidently. "He'll be begging you to take him back soon."

"That's not enough," Liz protested feebly, walking towards the far doors. "I should be there with him, helping him through this."

"I don't know if you can help him," Maria answered, hurrying after her friend to keep up. They passed through the doors, blinking in the bright sunlight, and she added, "This might be one of those things he needs to figure out for himself."

"He shouldn't have to go through this alone!" Liz cried, sitting down on one of the steps and burring her head in her hands. They were relatively alone, the rest of the student body having not left the school yet. Maria took a seat next to her best friend and wrapped her arms around her.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" she offered.

Liz laughed bitterly and shook her head. "He wouldn't listen," she said. She looked out across the quad. The air was shimmering in the heat, and she was suddenly too exhausted to even think straight about this entire mess. She had originally thought that they were lucky to escape it alive, but it was becoming more and more evident that they hadn't made it through the fire all in one piece. Max had crumbled to pieces in front of her, Isabel felt helpless to do anything, Tess was withdrawing more and more, and Michael was left trying to hold everything together.

"You can't give up, Liz," Maria argued. "You can't just let him walk away."

"It's what he wants," Liz said coldly, angrily.

"It's what he thinks he wants," Maria countered. "He doesn't know what he really wants."

"Maybe not," Liz conceded, "but he knows what he doesn't want. He doesn't want me."

"He doesn't want you to get hurt," Maria said. "And can you blame him? He loves you, of course he wants to protect you."

"But who's protecting him?" Liz wondered.

Alex fell into step beside Isabel as she walked across the parking lot towards her car. "How are you?" he asked sympathetically, giving her a quick once-over, noting the drawn expression on her face and the circles under her eyes.

"Not great," Isabel admitted quietly. "Max and Tess are…" She shrugged and took a slow breath. "They've completely fallen apart and I can't… I should be able to fix it, but I can't do anything. And my parents were so… when we talked to them they looked so… betrayed. I hate this. I hate being helpless. I hate not being able to do anything when people I love are hurt."

Alex reached out and took her hand. The two of them stopped in the middle of the parking lot, looking into each other's eyes. "The most you can do," Alex said, "is just be there for them."

"I think if I try to offer Tess any more comfort or help, she might actually kill me," Isabel said, reflecting on Tess' rapidly worsening disposition.

"So don't offer her anything," Alex said. "Just let her be angry and moody and whatever else she is, but don't let her do it alone. Sit in silence next to her if you have to, just make sure she knows that you are not going anywhere. Same with Max. He might think he can push Liz away, but he needs to know that you aren't going to leave him, no matter what."

"Hmm…" Isabel sighed with a soft smile, "when did you become so wise?"

"It's a gift," Alex answered with a grin.

"Maybe you are the one who should talk to Tess and Max," Isabel said. "And Liz, because I don't think she is handling Max's rejection all that well."

"I'll talk to Liz," Alex agreed, "but you're the one who needs to help the other two."

"Right," Isabel groaned. "Just what I want to do right now…" She bit her lip, then, acting on impulse, she leaned forward until her lips met Alex's. It took him a moment to realize what she was doing, and when he did, he responded to the kiss. Then, slowly, she drew back and looked at him.

Alex had blushed bright red. "Uh…"

"I…" Isabel looked uncomfortable. She had no idea why she had done that or what it meant.

"So…"

The two stared at each other, suddenly unsure, awkward, and uncomfortable.

Michael was half-way to the door of his apartment when the phone rang. He glanced behind him with annoyance, hurrying back and pulling the phone from the holder. "Hello?" he said, somewhat more sharply than he intended.

"The doctor's wife leaked the story. I was called into a closed session with the Senate this morning. The plan is underway." Nasedo's voice, raspy and filled with static, echoed through the phone lines.

"They think you are crazy?" Michael demanded, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Paranoid and delusional," Nasedo said. "I'll keep you updated as the investigation continues. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open for anything suspicious, though I doubt you will have any more problems."

Michael wasn't entirely sure he believed that. They always had problems. But he agreed readily enough with Nasedo's instructions to stay alert. "Okay," he said. "Should I tell Max you'll be calling him?"

Nasedo gave a snort and said, "I'll be calling you, Michael."

"But Max is the leader," Michael argued, confused. "He's the king."

"And he is currently too caught up in his own problems to lead anyone," Nasedo countered. "You are the Second-in-Command. It is your job to lead if the king is unable to fulfill his duty."

Michael swallowed. It was the first time anyone had so blatantly laid that much responsibility on his shoulders. "I don't know…"

"You do not have a choice," Nasedo rebuked. "It is who you are. This is your burden now, until Max had chased away his inner demons. Be careful, it is not an easy cross to bear." And then he hung up.

Michael replaced the phone.

"You broke up with Liz."

Max turned and looked over his shoulder at the blonde hybrid. He hadn't heard Tess' approach, but there she was, standing only a few feet behind him. Max felt almost annoyed at her presence. He had come to this bench to be alone. The park was empty at night, and he preferred it that way.

"Yes, I did," he replied. It hadn't really been a question, but for some reason he felt the need to say it, as though he had to defend his position.

Tess took a few steps forward and sat down next to him on the bench. She stared at him, wrapping her arms around her chest and hugging her sweatshirt tighter to her body. The air was cool and damp, and the night sky twinkled with the light of a thousand different stars.

"I killed Pierce," Max muttered. "I killed…" He was a healer, he wasn't supposed to kill people. He was supposed to save them, that was what he did.

"Yes, you did," Tess agreed. There really wasn't anything else she could say. He had killed Pierce, denying it would be useless. And as she was sure that Liz, Isabel, and Michael had all already told Max that he only did what was necessary, repeating that line of argument would be pointless.

Max's lips thinned into a straight line and his eyes took on a haunted and shadowed quality. His eyebrows knitted together in an unreadable frown, but he was silent.

"I thought you were grounded?"

"I am," Max answered. "I snuck out the window."

Tess raised one eyebrow and said sarcastically, "That's going to make your parents trust you more."

"Tess, just shut up," Max said wearily, too tired to fight.

"Do you want me to leave?" Tess asked. She didn't really want to stay and talk to him. There was nothing to say right now, nothing between them but the empty and awkward silence. And why would he want her to stay anyway? It wasn't like she had anything to offer him. There was nothing she could do for him, no reason to stay here.

But once in a while, Max still managed to surprise her.

"No."

She wondered if he had surprised himself with that answer as well.

"Are you…" Max started, but Tess cut him off.

"I will inflict unbearable pain on the next person who asks me if I am okay," she snapped. It was a stupid question. Of course she wasn't okay, how could she be? But unless they had a way to erase the past, no one was actually going to be able to help. She didn't have the luxury of being able to speak openly about any of her problems with anyone not in the group, and she had no desire to talk to any of them about her feelings. And until they were all assured of being safe, she couldn't waste time focusing on the past. They needed to be prepared for the future.

Max pointed at one of the stars and suddenly asked, "Do you see that star? The bright one that wobbles slightly?"

Tess glanced up and nodded. "The North Star," she murmured. "It stays in the same place as the others stars rotate around it."

"Do you think we can see it from Antar?" Max questioned. He watched the star for a moment, then looked over at Tess. She was staring at him, her eyes wide, but he couldn't read the expression on her face.

"Maybe," Tess replied finally. "I don't know."

There was nothing more either could say, and so they sat in silence, both staring off into the dark night that surrounded them and contemplating the unknown future that lay ahead.

Michael knocked at Maria's window. She came to the glass, surprise evident on her face, then pulled the latch up and let him inside.

"You're right," Michael said hurriedly, his words coming out in a rush. Maria opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about, but he gestured for her to remain quiet and hurried on with his jumbled speech. "I have to lead the group, I have to… save us. Max is too… I just… it's me. I have to do it, and I can't do that and be with you also."

Maria walked back to her bed, sinking onto the cushions. She hadn't wanted to hear him say those words, even though she knew they were true. She was the one who had initiated this break, so could she really blame him for recognizing what she had already accepted as fact?

"But I don't want…" Michael stopped, took a breath, and started again. "Maria, I love you. And I don't want this to end just because of other problems. I… I just want…" Again, he stopped, unable to put his thoughts into words.

"Michael…"

"No, don't," Michael said quickly. "I'm not good with words or flowery phrases. I can't… I can't express my feelings in a poem or whatever. I'm not… well, I'm not Max. I'm not good at this talking, but I… I need to say this. So just… hear me out, okay?"

"Okay," Maria whispered.

"You drive me insane. You're controlling and picky and… so incredibly frustrating. I swear half the time I want to kill you, but I… I love you. Nothing makes sense right now, except you. Everything else in my life has turned upside-down and inside-out. Everything else is so wrong, but not you. You… I just… I love you."

"I love you, too," Maria murmured.

Michael walked over to the bed and knelt in front of her. "When Max and Liz kiss, they see flashes. Liz sees Max's past, who he is. I… when we kiss, you don't see that."

"It doesn't matter if I see flashes or not," Maria said quickly.

"But it does matter. I… You don't see them because I don't let you. I didn't want you to… to see who I was. But I… I do now." He leaned forward, placing a hand on Maria's face, and kissed her.

Lights. A desert. Blackness. Fear. Hope. A little boy and a little girl, holding hands, staring at him. School, kids giving him strange looks. A little blonde haired girl introducing herself. Recognition. Hope. Fear. Blackness. A desert. Light.

"Oh…God, Michael," Maria breathed as the images and feelings rushed through her mind, bringing her closer to the taciturn hybrid in that one moment than she had been at any other point during the year.

Michael pulled back. "Good bye," he whispered, then he straightened, crossed to the window, and climbed back out into the night.

The man touched the screen of the small device, watching the lights that swirled around, finally forming into a V. A small smirk turned up the corners of his lips, gloating laughter sprung into his eyes. They had been searching for over fifty years. Fifty long, tiring years, that yielded little clues and even less hope. But now…

Now that search was finally over.

He pressed his thumb against the locator button on the device, watched the map of New Mexico appeared on the screen, noted the presence of the tiny blinking dot of light, the location of the Granolith. A single triumphant word slipped through his parted lips.

"Gotcha."

So this is strange,
Our sidestepping has come to be a brilliant dance
Where nobody leads at all,
Where nobody leads at all.

Author's note (part 1): In case it isn't clear, the indicator light in the final section was activated by the white light that was released when the black pentagon-shaped "ignition" was inserted into the Granolith.

Author's note (part 2): Yes, this is officially the end of This Brilliant Dance and I thank you all for bearing with me through my incredibly long retelling.

Author's note (part 3) IMPORTANT: There will be a sequel. It will be a retelling of Season Two, and it will be called Time After Time. The first chapter should be up in the beginning of 2008, but I do need to take the rest of the month to focus on my other non-Roswell stories. The sequel will focus on the appearance of the skins and any loose ends in this story. It will answer the questions…

Will Max ever get over having killed Pierce? Will he learn to lead the group again? Any why couldn't he heal Sydney? (Or, better yet, why was he able to heal Liz?)

Will Michael continue to lead the group while Max is struggling with his own problems? Will he do it successfully? Can he bear the burdens of leadership?

Will Isabel and Max regain their parents' trust?

Will Tess get over the White Room, or will her fury and pain consume her?

Will Kyle break out of his mind-warp? Will Jim truly forgive Tess for everything she has done?

Will anyone discover the truth about Nasedo and his role in the kidnapping of Maria?

What will happen when the skins come to Roswell?

What will happen with Max and Liz? Michael and Maria? Alex and Isabel? Tess and Chris? Jim and Amy?

So for anyone interested in sticking with me through another really long, rambling story, look for the first chapter of Time After Time during the first week of January.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my wonderful readers and reviewers.