PART TWENTY-TWO

Maria blearily swiped at her still swollen eyes, even further agitated with the bright sunlight that filled the morning sky. Neither she nor Michael had slept well the night before.

Here before them now lay their destination. She could see the Capitol building from the back of the bike in the distance, and knew that their journey was drawing to a close. After all these months, there would finally be resolution one way or another.

She wondered if Serena was nervous. She didn't know how she couldn't be. Maria herself felt her stomach tighten momentarily in fear of what was to come. There were no guarantees of anything from this point on.

So much could go wrong. The half-breeds could fail. Max could die. Khivar could prevail with Isabel on his side. She knew Michael was worried sick about it. Max and Isabel had been the only real family he'd ever known, and if anything happened to them, she wasn't sure how he'd react. She didn't know how she'd react herself if anything happened to Liz.

She leaned her chin against Michael's back as the wind whipped her light jacket, and she felt his hand gently move to squeeze hers before returning to the handle-bars again.

Michael had turned out to be surprisingly wonderful. She would have never thought it. But there was this whole other side to him that she never would have imagined existed back in high school. It just went to show how little people took the time to know each other. Granted, Michael was like a brick wall in high school, arrogant and reclusive, but it was naïve to think that this was all there was to him.

Now she knew the truth. That brick wall was there to hide everything Michael Guerin really was. He did have feelings. He did care about people. He did get hurt.

Maria wondered if things weren't as they were, would anyone have known the real Michael Guerin? She doubted it. For all the bad things that had happened to them all, she couldn't be sorry for knowing him, for all his sarcasm and infuriating obnoxious tendencies. But right at this moment, sitting behind him, pressed against his back, feeling alive, the wind against her slight body, the warmth of his seeping into her own, she felt more alive and more at peace than she had in a long time.

Would she lose him? Would he lose her? She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore, and so she concentrated on the pavement flying by, the flash of the inert cars like blurry ghosts of a time that had passed but would not let itself be forgotten.

The loud drone of the bike's engine was muffled by her helmet, which pressed against her ears. Her thighs pressed tightly against Michael, though they didn't really need to be.

It felt good. It felt good to have an objective, to feel as if they were doing something about their situation, not sitting around waiting for the Skins to come sniffing for them, hiding and waiting to knock the repulsive beings off one by one. Finally they had a chance to even things out, to possibly take their world back, to make things as they were, as they should be.

Time would tell, and it would be sooner than later. It wouldn't be long now.

*%*%*%*%%*%*%*%*%*%

Isabel woke in the abandoned American Airlines terminal at LaGuardia Airport. For a moment, she forgot where she was or why she was here.

She'd had a terrible dream, one in which she'd felt the press of an angry mob around her, leering, furious. As she took steps back away from the beings in front of her, she felt the press of those behind her. She was surrounded. Looking around for help, for some sort of support, she called out to Khivar. She caught sight of him outside the throng, looking at her with a great sadness in his eyes.

"Help me," she pleaded as her eyes locked with his. Though there was great regret in his eyes, he did not move.

"I'm sorry," she saw him mouth, as her arm was grabbed roughly.

"No!" she cried out to him. "Please, you can't let them!"

"They'll kill me," he said through their connection. "I love you, but my duty is to my people first."

"I betrayed my family for you," she whispered, as her head was yanked back by an overzealous Radmian.

"You have paid for your family's sins. The slate is clean," he said. "But know that I love you. I've loved you from the moment I saw you, and I know you love me."

"I loved you and your people. Wasn't that enough?" she said miserably.

He remained silent as she was thrown to the ground and the air above her became dark with the swarming of faces around her.

"You're remembering it aren't you?" a voice said, tearing her from her thoughts.

She turned her head quickly, frowning as she looked at Khivar, who'd been sitting quietly across from her on another row of seats. His eyes were locked on her, his face unreadable as he stroked his chin.

He was a beautiful man, she thought to herself, even now. He'd always had a terrible beauty, and a tragic yet passionate demeanor. It was what had attracted her that night at the ball, and it still drew her like a maet.

"It was a mistake Vilondra," he said softly. "It's one I have paid for every day since. It's a terrible regret I've had to live with. It's the one thing I will never let happen again."

He stood up and moved across the carpeted floor to sit next to her.

"Do you have any idea what it was like to live with knowing that my one moment of cowardice caused me to lose the one person who made me whole? That was you. My life after that day was empty. I filled it much as Zan probably did, with politics and laws and trying to fix things. It's probably the one and only thing we'll ever have in common. But it was not a life, not without you. I hate your brother more than I've ever hated anyone in my life, which is why it's so incredible that I could love someone of the same blood as powerfully as I hate him. But I do....love you Vilondra. I want that chance to prove to you that I can be the being I wasn't back on Antar. You will be my Queen and together we'll unite the people," he said.

She reached over and touched his hand, instantly connecting with him, and she saw that he spoke the truth. He'd loved her, and she felt the regret coming off of him in waves, along with the hope that she could love him again.

For all his mistakes, he did love her. And she had loved him once, and all that he'd represented. She'd loved him for the courage he'd had to stand up for his people, to protect them, and she'd died because of it.

But it had been her family's fault that it had come to that. Khivar had tried to negotiate with Zan. She had tried to reason with him, but Zan wouldn't listen, arrogant in his ideals and his position. He'd been just as ruthless as he'd claimed Khivar was.

She didn't want Max to die. She'd tried to warn him, but again as in his previous life, he hadn't listened. He would be here in New York shortly. She could sense him coming closer. Khivar had offered him his life, and she had warned him against coming here, but he'd ignored her....again.

She'd been feeling a progressive detachment from her human perspective, growing stronger as each hour passed. Her alien-ness was becoming more predominant, and couldn't say that she was really sad about it. There was a certain liberation in embracing her old self, her old values, her memories of a lost love.

She loved her human parents and would make sure of their safety and survival. She loved Max, but now he was on his own. The little niggling doubts were fading. With each passing minute she felt the parallels between Zan and Max. If he chose to follow through with this ridiculous mission of his, endangering his own life when it was offered to him on a silver platter, then what was she to do about it?

She frowned as a human reaction rose in her mind. He was her brother. He'd protected her, protected all of them. Shouldn't she do the same?

But Vilondra reared her head with a vengeance. Protecting him was exactly what she had been trying to do in telling him to let it lie. If he didn't listen, then he had no one to blame but himself.

She felt a gentle hand run through her hair, and she slowly turned her head back to face Kivar.

I love you Vilondra," he said softly. "I want you with me, forever this time. But that can't happen while your brother still lives, while he tries to destroy everything. You know that don't you?"

She looked into his mesmerizing blue eyes, and her last shred of humanity was lost to her, enveloped by the overpowering emotion she saw swimming in his face.

"Yes...." she said softly.

"Then come, and let this be finished, once and for all," he said, holding his hand out to her.

She took it and stood slowly, prepared for whatever she would have to face in the coming hours.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*

Liz found it difficult to maneuver around the congestion of the abandoned cars on the Goethals Bridge.

Cursing under her breath, she stopped the SUV, seeing that they could go no further on the narrow bridge. She'd taken a chance in going this route, assuming that the smaller bridge would have less cars on it than the George Washington Bridge, but she hadn't factored in the width of it. It was too narrow to pass the vehicles sitting silently all the way across.

She sighed heavily, realizing that they would have to walk it, choosing a car to continue on to their destination at the other end.

She leaned out of the window, looking down the length of it.

"Max," she said as she scanned the horizon. When she received no answer, she turned to him.

He was staring out the window, lost in his thoughts.

"Max," she said gently, putting her hand on his shoulder, and he jumped a bit, turning toward her.

"I'm sorry," he said a little sheepishly, and she felt her throat tighten as she looked at him, his face haggard in the harsh sunlight.

"We're going to have to walk," she said, and his eyes lowered in fatigue as he nodded.

"We'll pick up another car at the other end of the bridge, all right?" she said, her fingers threading through his. She chewed her lip worriedly. She wasn't sure what the long walk across the bridge would take out of him, as he seemed to be growing even weaker by the hour now.

"I'll be fine," he said, sensing her apprehension at the thought of him walking across the bridge.

Liz knew that he wouldn't have said anything else, not wanting her to worry about him. But he couldn't hide the fatigue on his face. She decided against saying anything, as there wasn't anything else to be done. There was no other way across the bridge.

They got out of the truck, and Max came around the front, taking Liz's hand. They started the walk, the bright sun warming their bodies and the clothes they wore. For a moment, Liz could almost forget the red tinge of the sky that was a constant reminder of what they'd all lost.

She concentrated on the feel of the soft pads of Max's fingers resting against her palm, warm and comforting.

"Max, do you wish that things could have been different in high school, you know, with us?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Things would have been more normal."

She glanced at him and smiled.

"It wouldn't have been for long with those funky hallucinations you give me," she joked lightly, and a small grin appeared on his face.

"I thought you said it was exciting?" he said, squeezing her hand teasingly.

"It was," she said softly. "But no more exciting than any other minute I spend with you."

She looked up at him and a small smile appeared on his face.

"Do you?" he asked.

"Do I what?" she asked as she looked at their feet stepping in synch on the cement.

"Do you wish things could have been different?" he asked, looking out over the water, glimmering with the light of the sun.

"Maybe, only because we'd have had more time," she said, and he nodded.

"And I could have taken you out on a real date," he said regretfully, his hand sliding slowly up his waist to cover his wound.

She noticed his movement right away.

"Max, has that gotten worse?" she asked.

"It's fine," he insisted, but the stopped and pulled him back when he tried to keep walking.

"Let me see," she said.

"Liz, it's fine," he insisted.

She held his eyes for a moment, and he relented, dropping his hand.

She slowly wrapped her fingers around the hem of his t-shirt, her eyes never leaving his as he looked at her nervously.

Her fingers slid against the smooth skin of his stomach as she lifted the shirt, her eyes lowering. From beneath the bandage a sickly green light pulsed lightly.

She pulled the bandage away and gasped.

"How long has it been like this Max" she asked.

"Since this morning," he admitted.

She bit her lip as she looked at the skin surrounding the wound that had turned almost black. The wound itself oozed the green glow that she had seen emanating from behind the bandage.

She looked at him worriedly.

"The Granolith will fix it," he said.

"What if it doesn't?" she said.

He didn't answer.

"We should go," he said.

She nodded and carefully smoothed the bandage back into place before lowering his t-shirt.

His arm slipped around her as he pulled her close, and remained there as they continued their way across the bridge.

Liz wasn't sure what to say, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that each step on the concrete was bringing them closer to their destination, and closer to the possibility that she might lose Max.

There was so much she was feeling, and she knew that they could very well be running out of time, but the words failed to surface. How could she possibly verbalize all that he had come to mean to her in such a short period of time? She'd been in love with him from afar for as long as she could remember, but now knowing him as she never had back in high school, she realized he was everything she dreamed he'd be and more, and yet so very different from anything she could have imagined.

She turned her head and looked at his handsome profile. His eyes held the perpetual worry that had been there since they'd met again, as his eyes scanned the water surrounding the bridge. She knew that he carried his past heavily on his shoulders. So much more than he should be carrying.

She also knew that he was prepared to do anything to help his sister, Michael and the rest of the group. It made her angry that he was not even thinking of himself, or whether he would make it through all of this, but she held her tongue.

Though he might be prepared to do what had to be done, whatever the cost to himself, he hadn't taken her presence into account. She was going to make sure that she did everything that she could to make sure that he was still around to love her when all was said and done.

He stopped suddenly, his eyes closing as he stood in the middle of the bridge.

"What is it Max?" Liz said, concerned.

"Serena. She's joined the others in DC. I can feel them," he said with a small smile.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*%

Serena gazed at the people lining the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, surveying those who'd made the journey to DC, following an instinct that hadn't been entirely conscious. They'd started gathering slowly, gradually gaining numbers over the last week. Now a crowd of about two hundred people stood looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak.

She bit back the painful jabs radiating from her damaged ribs. Now was not the time to be wallowing in self-pity.

She glanced at Kyle, who stood next to her, and took his hand. Standing with her was the one dream she'd allowed herself that had become real. The one man who'd she'd secretly longed for from the moment she'd met him. The man who she'd always assumed would forever be out of her reach.

Yet here he stood, with concern in his eyes and love in his heart for her, and only her, and she felt that even though the world might fall apart around them, this one thing, this one little light that had come into her life at it's darkest point, would get her through what she had to do.

Someday when this was all over, she would tell him about that dark place, where she cowered in hidden fear on Jekyll Island, where she'd almost given up. Where she welcomed oblivion, only to be lulled by the pull of his voice and the promise that he'd come to get her. Someday she'd tell him that it was him, and only him that had given her the will to hang on through the tortures she'd endured.

Someday, but not now.

Kyle cleared his throat, looking at Doug, who stood on the other side of Serena, waiting for her first move.

Maria and Michael stood off to the side, Michael's arm wrapped around Maria's waist. They knew this was their last hope.

"I think the peanut gallery is waiting to hear from you," Kyle said, his head motioning toward the crowd.

She turned to Doug.

"Are you ready?" she asked, holding her hand out to him. He smiled and nodded and took her hand as they both turned to the people waiting.

The two closed their eyes in concentration and a great sigh escaped from the crowd of people as their minds all connected at once in a single collective consciousness.

"Zan lives," her voice whispered through the connection, and a flurry of shocked murmurings ricocheted into her mind and she felt Doug's hand tighten on hers in anticipation. Suddenly she felt a wave of knowledge flow from the group, as the secrets of what they were, were completely unlocked. Those who did not know, now had the knowledge. Those who did, let the secrets of generations flow through the connection. It was what they'd all been called here for. Now they knew the purpose of seemingly senseless need to travel to this particular deserted city.

"The Granolith has been tampered with, knocked off balance," she said. "Zan is weak. He'd been injured in the red disaster. He is not fully Antarian, but half human like us. He is more powerful, as he was genetically engineered, where we were born naturally, but he will need every ounce of our concentration, the elements that make up our Antarian side, in order to fix what needs to be fixed. It may help to bring our loved ones back home. Are you prepared to help him?" she asked.

A resounding agreement soared through their collective psyche. Serena felt her muscles relax from the tenseness she hadn't realized she'd been feeling. Though she'd hoped that this would all come together, she couldn't be positive. Knowing the half-breeds were in complete agreement with what needed to be done made her feel marginally better that this plan might actually have a chance at succeeding.

In this moment, united with her people, her brother and those she loved, she felt as if they just might win this time, for both the humans and the Antarians.

*%*%*%*%*%*

A short distance away, two pairs of eyes watched the crowd gathered on the steps.

"Are the men in place?" a dark-haired man barked out, looking at the shorter man beside him.

"Yes, all are in position," the short man said in a low tone. "Shouldn't we wait for Khivar to contact us?"

"He said he'd link with us, but if the full group was assembled, we were to move without his orders. Get ready to move," the dark-haired man answered.

*%*%*%*%*%*

Max and Liz reached the other end of the bridge and stopped to look over the landscape of Staten Island.

Max felt the light touch of Liz's fingers on his back and his eyes closed, just savoring the sensation for a long moment. It was reassurance, love, and worry all wrapped up in the smooth slide of fingers against his t-shirt. It brought him peace, a momentary stillness in time concentrated in every nerve ending her fingers made contact with.

The barbed pain he'd been fighting all morning faded for that instant, in the glow of knowing that with everything that was wrong with the world, that one thing was surely right, that Liz Parker somehow loved him for who he was. She loved him despite what he was.

"Max," she said softly, and he opened his eyes to see the worried frown on her face.

He smiled gently leaning to kiss her forehead lightly.

"I just....I can't explain what it feels like when you touch me," he said, resting his chin on the top of her head as she continued to draw lazy circles on the small of his back.

"I've waited practically all my life dreaming about what it would feel like. None of us...." he paused, trying to find the right words.

"We couldn't allow ourselves to be close to anyone. Isabel and I had it a little easier. Our parents loved us. They tried to open us up. It worked on Isabel, but I was always so afraid, afraid that if I let anyone in too far, that they'd be hurt in the end, because of who we are. And Michael, he had it the worst, living with Hank all those years," he said sadly.

"I remember he used to come into school with bruises," Liz said thoughtfully, "but I always thought he'd been in a fight."

"There was never a fight," Max said bitterly. "He never fought back. Hank would get drunk and find any excuse to beat on him. Michael was so afraid of what he was capable of, so he just took it."

"Oh Max," she said, her arms wrapping around him gently. "I'm sorry."

"I don't know how many times I thought of just going over there and killing him myself," he said, his jaw tightening with the memories. "Michael would just get angry. He always told us that it wouldn't be forever. That when we were eighteen we could leave. But every time he came around with those bruises," he said, breaking off in a cracked voice.

He looked into her eyes and saw anger there. Anger for what Michael had been through, and for Max and Isabel who had been helpless to stop it, as much as they wanted to.

Max swiped at his eyes angrily.

"Anyway, my parents, especially my mom, tried to get me to open up, but I couldn't. How could I tell them what I was? What we were? So I kept myself at a distance," he said, looking away. "I love them. I love them for taking us in and giving us a life. That's why I couldn't let them be close to me. I sort of pulled away when my mom tried to hug me, because I was afraid she'd see what I really was somehow. I couldn't....I just couldn't bear them looking at me like I was a monster. Isabel let them, but I was too afraid."

"Max, everyone needs to be touched," Liz said softly, letting her fingers play across his jaw.

He closed his eyes, laying his hand over hers.

" You've touched me, in every a person can be touched," he said quietly. "My heart, my body....my soul. Whatever happens Liz, I want you to know that every second I've spent with you has made me whole. You didn't give up on me, even when I had given up on myself. I will never, ever forget that."

"I can't give up on someone I love," Liz said, tears springing to her eyes.

"I'll never give up on you, Max Evans," she said meaningfully.

Max pulled her close and buried his face in the softness of her hair.

"Thank you," he said, his voice muffled against her neck.

"For what?" she asked quietly.

"For being everything I had dreamed and more. You were always the girl of my dreams Liz, and now you're real," he said.

She gently stroked the hair that curled at the base of his neck, with a knowing smile.

"You were everything I could have ever hoped for Max. I know what you think, that because of who you are, that you're the lucky one. But I'm the one that's lucky. You brought me back to life. You saved my life because you loved me. And I'll always love you for that," she said.

For a time they stood completely still in each other's arms, letting the minutes slip by as they immersed themselves in the simple act of holding each other.

Regretfully Max pulled away, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Liz met his eyes questioningly.

"The others, with Serena....they're strong. I can feel the connection. They're gathering their strength," he said.

Liz glanced around and spotted a Honda motorcycle lying on its side up ahead.

"Let's see if we can get that running. We need to finish this once and for all Max. I want an us, and until this is over, it's going to come between us," she said.

He nodded with determination.

"Let's finish it then," he said grimly, and together they walked toward the bike.

*%*%*%*%*%*

Isabel dreamily watched Khivar study the surroundings outside Building 7 of the World Trade Financial Center.

If felt strange to be back in the city. It had always been so full of life, bustling with activity. Now it seemed to be a city of the dead. There was nothing but silence and the whistling of the wind between the buildings. The bright sunlight tinged with red only made it seem more garish.

She shook the feeling of morbidity off. Soon things would be set right, and she would be gone from here forever.

Khivar turned to her.

"He'll be here soon," he said. "I want you to stay here, in this building. I don't want anything to happen to you, and when it's finished, we'll leave this place for good. You and I can begin the life we never had the chance to live," he said gently, smiling at her. She smiled gently in return.

She ignored the pangs of guilt she felt over Max, and for leaving Alex without an explanation. She knew had they been given the opportunity, things might have bloomed between them. But she had too much history with her alien side.

She tried to convince herself that this would have eventually drove a wedge between them, and pushed the thought that she was lying to herself to the back of her mind. Things had been set in motion. There was nothing to be done about any of it now.

She closed her eyes, and flashes of she and Max as children, walking in the desert, alone and scared. It had been so cold and dark, a strange and scary world that they had emerged into. He'd gripped her hand with a tight reassuring squeeze, willing her to feel that he would protect her no matter what happened. Though they couldn't speak the words, Max had sent her calming energy through their connection, and somehow she knew that they would be ok.

Twin bright lights appeared before them, momentarily blinding them, and Max had stepped in front of her, blocking her from the light.

She remembered turning her head to look at him as he pulled her behind him, and in his eyes she saw the fear he was trying to hide from her, trying to be brave for the both of them.

In that moment, she had known that no matter what happened, she would never be alone. Fragmented memories of a strong, brave brother flitted through her mind and then were gone.