Summary: Max, Liz, and the end of the world.
Rating: PG
Pairing: Max/Liz
Muse: #3 -- Each fic must contain this line
of dialogue and it must be spoken by a female character: "Oh, I can't believe
it's so big!"
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Don't sue,
I'll cry. ;p
Spoilers: 'Departure'. I am disregarding
season three.
Warning: Character death
- - -
"When I'm with you, I feel
like I could die and that would be all right." -- Third Eye Blind
Roswell, New Mexico; 2014 A.D.
She lies spooned in his arms, like a frightened child. He comforts her with slow
kisses on the back of her neck. And gently he clasps one of her hands in his,
pressing her body into his to calm the trembling. She's afraid because it's all
going to end tomorrow.
He has fears, too, but he won't acknowledge them, knowing that they'll take him
under and keep him from doing what he needs to do. He can't look into his
enemy's eyes with any trace of fear - - he has to be strong in will and body,
strong enough to put up a fight, even if it is a losing battle.
It will not only be the end of their existence, but everyone else's as well.
Years ago, Liz whispered to him the story of how his future self had come to
her, pleading for her to do something to save what he had let be destroyed. But
as Tess left that summer morning in the granolith, all hope of a world saved was
lost as the missing puzzle piece shot off into the stars. Without the fourth
link to the alien circle, there was no way to save them. Any of them.
All that was evil was closing in on the small town of Roswell, ready to arrive
tomorrow and knock everyone down. Into the ground and into death.
He thinks of those he's already lost. Isabel, her mind destroyed as she tried to
dreamwalk those planning against her. She died weeks ago and now lies cold in
the ground, her grave next to the sad remains of her dear Alex. He thinks of
Michael, whose impulsiveness was his destruction in the end. Off he'd gone in
search of the enemies that he couldn't wait to defeat. But alone, he hadn't been
strong enough to fight them off for even a day, and he died. Max had felt it,
felt his best friend's heart stop beating from so many miles away.
He thinks of his parents, his loving, trusting parents who became his world when
he was a six year-old child without a family of his own. He knows they will die,
just as everyone will die, and he knows there is nothing he can do to save them.
The girl in his arms breaks the silence that has surrounded them for as long as
they could stretch it. There is evidence of oncoming tears in her voice as she
suddenly exclaims, "Oh, I can't believe it's so big!"
Max pauses as slowly he swallows. "It?"
But he doesn't really need to ask. He knows what she meant - - she meant
everything - - his world, hers; their world together that they will lose
together.
Liz lets out a shaky sigh. "This... I just can't believe this problem is really
here, and is really this big. That it's going to be the death of us..."
"Yeah." Though Max searches for something better, something more soothing to
say, he comes up with nothing. He can't console her fears when he shares them,
can't convince her that anything is going to be okay because nothing is.
All he can do is hold her, and love her, gathering strength he knows he'll need
for the day ahead. Maybe it is futile to fight, but fight he will, to his death.
He smoothes Liz's hair back from her forehead, inhaling the sweet scent of her
flowery shampoo. Her hair is shorter now than it used to be, cut up almost to
her chin. He remembers the day she got that haircut. Remembers his
disappointment to learn that he would no longer see it fan out so becomingly
behind her when she spun around as she danced in his arms.
He remembers a lot of little things like that. Things that he's SO grateful to
hold as memories in his heart. Sometimes he thinks of what his future self said
to Liz; he's always been upset that in another reality, he encountered enough
terror to make him willing to give her up. If he believed in God, he would thank
Him everyday for allowing him to keep Liz in his life, and in his heart.
Max realizes what being with Liz has ultimately cost everyone, and yet there
isn't a moment he's experienced with her that he would give up. Not a moment. He
has known such a bright-burning love, a love that made others jealous at just a
glance toward he and Liz. If the end of things is the price he has to pay for
loving her instead of his alien destiny, then he's ready to be a man and accept
that as the price that he will pay for the happiness he's been given.
"I love you," Max whispers softly in Liz's ear, and she nods silently, those
words as familiar to her as her heartbeat. "Hold onto that."
The courage that he'll need tomorrow pools in the pit of his stomach, waiting to
spring into action. While he still can, he lays still, holding close the one who
has always meant the most to him. Together they lay, one heart shared between
them. Trembling, breathing, waiting for the end.
- -
end
