Title: Strength of Mind

Category: CC

Spoilers: Everything up to and including 'Departure'

Summary: If a person dies, is that person really gone or does a part of them continue on.

Disclaimer: This is a fictional story using characters and events that belong to the creators of Roswell. I own nothing and make nothing from this story. In other words; Don't want them. Don't need them. Couldn't afforded them if I did.

Author's note: The beginning of this story takes place shortly after "Departure" where Max is told that Tess killed Alex. Max sends everyone out and confronts Tess. She doesn't deny it and eventually confesses that Nasedo made a deal with Khivar. Max tells Tess to go, after which this story starts...

Prologue

Elsewhere

A male figure sat comfortably in the center of a dimly lit room. Multiple images the size of a small TV screen, floated in the air as they circled around him. Each image showed scenes of different events that centered around Max Evans and Liz Parker. With a wave of his hand, the images shifted from them to Michael Guerin and Maria Deluca, and shifted once more to Isabel Evans and Kyle Valenti.

He had seen many such images since coming to this place. More images of those people, including Alex Whitman, Amy Deluca, and Jim Valenti. Some of what he witnessed made him laugh, some made him angry but overall all, they made him sad. There was an overwhelming sense of missed opportunity in the faces that he saw. One face in particular made his heart ache.

The man sighed deeply and made a slashing movement with his arm. With that action, all the images disappeared except for one. In that single image was Max, standing in a chamber with a large crystalline object in the center. He was arguing with someone that could not seen. One the far wall was what looked like a clock that was counting down to zero.

"The Granolith Chamber," the man nodded to himself.

In the image, Max stopped and the scene moved away from him and centered on the large object. A small hand rested on the Granolith and reflected in the mirror-like surface, was an image of a girl. A girl by the name of Tess Harding.

"Now," the figure spoke just as the room went dark.

Max watched as Tess placed her hand on the Granolith. For an instant, there was an intense flash of bright light. When his eyes cleared, Max could see that Tess was now standing inside of the Granolith.

Suddenly Tess clutched her head and screamed from within the Granolith. The large crystalline structure then began to shake violently, and Tess was forcibly ejected from within the artifact. Max rushed to her to her side, worried not so much about her but about his unborn child that she carried. To his relief, the child appeared to be unharmed but Tess had blood trickling out of her ears and nose.

"Hey Max."

That voice shocked Max to the core and he slowly looked back up at the Granolith. There, standing inside the megalithic structure, was the last person that he had ever thought that he would see again. But before Max could utter a sound, multiple arcs of electricity began to crawl across the surface of the Granolith as it began to spin. It started slowly at first but gathered speed with each passing second.

There was a brief flash of orange light and both teenagers were thrown into the far wall. Max quickly scooped Tess up in his arms and carried her out of the chamber where he was met by...

"Isabel!"

"Max! What's happening?" she cried as the ground shook violently.

"It's the Granolith," Max panted, trying to catch his breath. He looked over his shoulder at the opening that led to the Granolith. "I don't know why but," Max turned back to his sister. "You won't believe who I just saw inside it!"

Isabel was taken back by the crazed look in her brother's eyes. "Who Max? Who did you see!"

Max shifted Tess around in his arms to get a better hold and tried to answer his sister but was cut off as a large explosion went off behind him.

Outside, Liz waited impatiently with Maria for Max and Isabel to exit the pod chamber. Kyle and Michael, who held Maria at his side, stared intently at the chamber entrance, concerned as to what was keeping the two siblings. Then the ground around them started to shake. Liz shared a worried look with Michael before bolting for the chamber entrance.

Another tremor rocked the area hard enough to send everyone sprawling to ground. Liz looked up from where she fell, not more that ten feet from the entrance, to find that the rock outcropping that housed the chamber, was being swallowed up in a ball of orange light.

Suddenly, there was no sound.

The ground no longer shook.

Kyle rushed to help Liz stand up as Michael held Maria tightly in his arms. All four stared dumbly at the ball of light as it slowly expanded in size.

Still, there was no sound.

Liz broke from Kyle and rushed forward, disappearing into the light. Kyle followed after her a second later, leaving Michael and Maria by themselves as the ball of light continued to grow in size.

"LIZ!" Maria screamed and tried to go after her best friend but was restrained by Michael, who wrapped his arms around the petite blonde. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Michael?"

Michael pressed a finger to her lips and was soon followed by his own lips. After placing a tender kiss upon Maria's quivering lips, Michael pushed her behind him, fully intending to protect the girl that had captured his heart. He then turned his attention back to the orange sphere that had swallowed up their friends. Extending his hand out, Michael focused all of his energy and lashed out at the expanding ball of light.

Nothing happened.

Again and again Michael tried to destroy the growing globe of light but everything he tried, failed to stop it. It was like there was nothing there for him to affect. That's when he felt it. An emptiness formed inside his very soul as he realized that both Max and Isabel were gone. He couldn't even feel Tess anymore.

When the light was less than a foot away, Michael accepted the inevitable. With a single tear running down his cheek, Michael turned around and took Maria into his arms. He could hear her muffled sobs as he closed his eyes.

Michael and Maria were dimly aware of the light washing over them and then nothing.

Liz watched as Alex walked away from her. Alex had basically, but amazingly, bullied the Sheriff into releasing them from jail. That was after she had told him everything about Isabel, Max and Michael. And, even though he didn't outright believe her, she was just glad that she no longer had any reason to lie to him.

Lying to Alex all this time was probably the worst thing that she had to do since the day she was shot. She had wished that she could have confided in him since the beginning, knowing that he could have made everything easier for her and Maria but Max and the others were too afraid. She could almost understand and that was what kept her from telling Alex.

'I believe that you believe, let's just leave it at that.'

That was what Alex told her when she asked if he believed what she had told him while in that jail cell. It was the trust that he had in her, that Liz treasured. The trust that she came very close to losing forever. Thinking about everything that had happened between her and Alex, Liz made a promise to herself that, starting tomorrow, she would make sure that Alex knew how much she valued his friendship.

With that thought in mind, Liz turned and headed for home.

Had Liz continued to watch her friend, she would have seen Alex suddenly being bathed in a nimbus of soft orange light before collapsing onto the ground. Less than two heartbeats later, Alex picked himself off the ground, dusted himself off and then continued walking home, as if nothing happened.