Rating: PG-13 for language

Category: Other Stories

Disclaimers: The characters of Roswell belong to the WB, among others, but apparently I need to keep borrowing them.

Summary: Bad things are just beginning to happen…

Author’s note/soapbox: Don’t even bother reading this (trust me) unless you’ve read the previous two trilogies. Starting with Dealing: “Dealing”, “Lost Treasures”, “Prepare Yourself”; then Tess: “Attitude”, “Plan C”, “The Spin Cycle”; and finally the first part of the Revelations trilogy: “Nuts.” And again, pretty important for this story to work is the fact that Max, Michael, and Isabel don’t know that Nasedo can shapeshift. The title of this fic is a play on two Marvel Comic villains the Dire Wraiths (a rebel group of an alien race who can shapeshift) and D’Spayre (who is “made up of all sorts of nasty emotions, mostly hate, fear and depression. Think of him as a big angst-sponge. His main weaknesses are hope and love, two emotions that are poison to him.” Taken from the Marvel Comics Villain website: http://www.sigma.net/burch/index.html). The Apache phrase used in this story is taken from a Western Apache/English Dictionary. Mescalero Apache is a different dialect and would I’m assuming have different words for the phrase. But since I didn’t have access to a Mescalero Apache/English Dictionary this is the best I could do. Should anyone out there actually know Mescalero Apache I’d love to know what the phrase should have been. Oh and another thing…in my alternate universe Alex’s dad resembles the dad in the books - hard core military man.

***

(Scene: Liz’s Bedroom, morning. Maria is waking up on Liz’s bed as Liz returns to her room drying her hair with a towel.)

Liz: Hey.

Maria (sitting up): Okay, so when’d you stop snoring?

Liz: I never…

Maria: Liz.

Liz: I do not snore.

Maria: Not anymore you don’t.

Liz: I never did.

Maria: Yeah, and we haven’t been best friends for like twelve years and we’ve never done this (waving her hand around the room) sleep over thing before…

Liz: It was a slanderous campaign you started after my seventh birthday slumber party - yet to be proven.

Maria: Do I have to call Alex?

Liz: It’s a conspiracy!

Maria: And the tape would be…

Liz: Total fabrication!

Maria: Uh uh.

Liz (giving her a playfully defeated look and sitting down next to her on the bed): Framed I tell you.

Maria: You go ahead and believe in that lie.

Liz: Thank you, I think I will.

Maria (getting up from the bed and going through her bag for her shower stuff, she stands up, having just thought of something): You don’t think Max like wiggled your nose or something the other night?

Liz: Maria!

Maria: I mean, that couch is pretty small you had to be super-spooning…I bet it sounded like a freight train to him.

Liz: MARIA!

Maria: Think about it…one day you snore and the next day you don’t - and the only thing that happened in-between is a night spent with Max…who can wiggle his nose and make things happen.

Liz: He wouldn’t…

Maria (she heads over to the window to check on Michael): I’d thank him…(she looks out the window and frowns) He’s gone?

Liz: Michael. Yeah, he was gone when I got up.

Maria: When?

Liz (looking at her clock): About an hour ago.

Maria: We were supposed to go over to his apartment…I was gonna help him…decorate.

Liz (suspicious): Decorate?

Maria: What?

Liz: Maybe he went home already.

Maria (a little worried): Maybe.

Liz (picking up her phone): Call him.

Maria: Are you kidding? He’s the stalker, not me…

Liz (interrupting her): Just call. (Maria walks over and sits next to Liz and dials his number. It rings four times and the answering machine comes on. She hangs up and looks over at Liz, even more worried.) Maybe he went to Max’s first. (Maria just stares at her pleadingly) Fine. (She grabs the phone from Maria and dials Max’s number. It also rings until the answering machine picks up. She hangs up the phone and looks at Maria) Maybe they’re on their way back here?

Maria: I have a bad feeling about this.

Liz: Maria, you have a bad feeling when the…(she’s interrupted when her phone rings. She and Maria look at each other and then she picks up the phone) Hello?

(Scene switches to Isabel in the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: Liz. It’s Isabel.

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz: Isabel. (Maria shoots Liz a major worried look)

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: I know this is gonna sound odd but…is Max there?

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz: No, he didn’t stay last night, Michael did, and he left this morning before I got up.

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel (completely shocked): What? Wait, you knew?

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz: That they’ve been camping outside our windows for the last week? Yeah, kinda hard not to…

(Back to Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: Oh…okay…um…when did he go?

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz: Over an hour ago. (There’s a pause) What’s going on, Isabel?

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: I don’t know. I woke up an hour ago too and Max was gone, we were supposed to go running this morning.

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz (in disbelief): Running? (Then realizing how it sounded) Sorry I just can’t picture you running…

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: A girl’s gotta keep her figure somehow - it’s not like I can just wave my hand over myself and make fat disappear…(thinking about it for a second) Wait, maybe I can…

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom, Maria is getting antsy, pestering Liz to ask about Michael)

Liz: I think something’s wrong.

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel (shaking out of her transgression): I think so too.

(Back to Liz’s Bedroom)

Liz: Can you come by the Crashdown, you know, when they get back?

(Back to the Evan’s Kitchen)

Isabel: Yeah…(not sounding very convincing) I’m sure they’re fine.

(Scene: Max’s Jeep, on the road to somewhere. Max is driving and Michael is sitting in the passenger seat.)

Max: What exactly did you see?

Michael: It was hazy and dark but he was dead, Max…that I know.

Max: How?

Michael: I just know…his eyes were open and he was…just dead, okay?

Max: He wasn’t that old…how could he have died? Did you see anything else?

Michael: A whole lotta nothing but his freaky face starin’ at me, Maxwell.

Max: I don’t get it, Michael. Why’d you see it? Why do you keep having these visions?

Michael: If I knew, Max, I’d stop…feeling Nasedo walking around in the shadows is one thing but seeing dead people - I can do without.

Max: Maybe he’s not dead yet…maybe it was a premonition…

Michael: You believe what you want, Max, I know what I saw.

(Scene: Mescalero Reservation. The Sheriff is roping off an area surrounding a body and pushing people back. The Deputy is examining the body. Bystanders are all around watching from a distance, including Eddie way off to the side. The Sheriff still has visible signs from the hives he got the other night from Maria’s planned date from hell. Deputy Blackwood is Michael Horse’s character - for those of you who didn’t know his character name, like me)

Sheriff (speaking over his shoulder to the Deputy as he finishes securing the area): Any physical wounds?

Deputy Blackwood: Nothing, Sheriff.

Sheriff: Better call the coroner and see what’s taking him so long. (The Deputy stands up and heads over the car. The Sheriff walks over to the body and squats down. He furrows his brow and reaches out to touch a necklace hanging around the man’s neck. The Deputy comes back and squats down on the other side of the body.) I’ve seen this before.

Deputy Blackwood: Impossible. (The Sheriff looks up at him questioningly) It’s a spirit necklace…no two are the same. (He pulls out his necklace from under his uniform and shows the Sheriff)

Sheriff: I know I’ve seen this. (He looks up at the Deputy) Who is he?

Deputy Blackwood: River Dog…bíni'édih (the Sheriff just looks at him) he’s a crazy old man.

(The Sheriff looks down at the body and then back up and sees Max and Michael talking with Eddie way off in the distance. He has flashbacks of following Max to the reservation and of seeing him and Michael leaving the reservation together some time ago)

Max: What happened?

Eddie: What are you doing here?

Michael: What happened?

Eddie (looking from Max to Michael): I don’t know.

Michael: He’s dead?

Eddie (looking angrily at Michael and nodding in the direction of the Sheriff): What does it look like?

Max: How?

Eddie (keeping his gaze with Michael): How’d you know?

Michael: I saw - dreamt it.

Eddie (looking past Michael and noticing that the Sheriff, now standing, is watching them intently): You should go.

Max: We need to know what happened.

Eddie (looks over at Max): Go. (And with that he walks away from them. Max and Michael just look at each other)

(Scene switches back to the Sheriff and Deputy. Valenti is watching Max and Michael and Deputy Blackwood is tilting the body up to look on his back)

Deputy Blackwood (curiously): Sheriff. (Valenti turns to look at him, noting the tone of his voice and walks over to him. The Deputy nods to the body, Valenti kneels down and sees the silver handprint on the back of River Dog. His face goes white and he looks back over at where Max and Michael were standing but they’re gone.)

(Scene: Max’s Bedroom. Max and Michael are sitting on the bed and Isabel is pacing around the room, obviously upset.)

Isabel (panicked): He’s dead. (Neither of them answer her) How, Max?

Max: We don’t know.

Isabel: It was him…

Michael: We don’t know that.

Isabel: It’s just what…a coincidenc, Michael? I want the truth and I want it now - this secretive shit…it stops NOW!

Max (trying to calm her down): Isabel…

Isabel: I mean it, Max.

Michael: We don’t know anything. I had a vision last night. All I saw was his face.

Isabel (sitting down on the bed): What do we…what do we do now? (Looking over at Max) Max? What do we do? (Max looks from Isabel over to Michael - who shakes his head at Max and then looks down)

(Scene: Crashdown, moderately busy. Maria is filling up drinks behind the counter as Liz walks in from the back)

Maria: Anything?

Liz: No.

Maria: She’s bringing them here when they get back, right?

Liz: That’s what she said.

Maria (finishing her drinks): It’s four, Liz…where the hell are they? (She looks at Liz, worried, and then takes the drinks and delivers them to a table. Liz watches Maria and then notices Kyle walk in heading for the counter.)

Liz: Hey, Kyle.

Kyle: Liz.

Liz: How’s your dad?

Kyle (looks up at her and groans): I don’t know…I haven’t seen him today.

Liz: Really?

Kyle: He was gone pretty early this morning…I heard something on the scanner about a suspicious death…on the reservation I think…

Liz (her body stiffens): The reservation?

Kyle: Yeah. Look, can I get a coke and some fries?

Liz: Sure, Kyle, I’ll be right back. (Liz walks out from behind the counter, grabs Maria, and pulls her into the back.)

Maria: What?

Liz: There was a death on the reservation.

Maria: I’m gonna need a little more than that.

Liz: The Sheriff was called out early this morning for a suspicious death…on the reservation.

Maria: And you’re thinking…

Liz: River Dog. (Maria’s eyes widen as she puts it together)

Maria: No. He wouldn’t…(she’s interrupted by Alex coming through the double doors) What are you doing here - I thought you guy’s were practicing?

Alex: Got a 911 call from Isabel to meet here. (Maria and Liz just look at each other)

(Scene: Roswell Public Library. The Sheriff is sitting at a microfiche machine looking through newspaper articles from 1959, like he is looking for something in particular. He stops and focuses the machine. What comes into view is a picture of the crime scene from the 1959 murder of Atherton. A bunch of people from the reservation are gathered around, and in the background there’s a very stoic boy standing off to the side. The Sheriff leans in to look closer at the screen and there it is - the necklace that River Dog was wearing.)

(Scene: Crashdown Backroom. Alex, Maria, and Liz are sitting on the couch while Isabel, Max, and Michael are standing around)

Liz (sounding like she’s trying to reassure herself): We don’t know how he died. (Everybody looks at her and she looks around the room) Well, we don’t.

Maria: Isn’t it bad enough that he’s dead?

Alex: Gonna have to go with DeLuca on this one.

Michael: Liz is right. We’re jumping to conclusions here.

Maria (looking at him): Conclusions?

Michael: He was old - it could have been anything…

Isabel: He wasn’t that old, Michael, and there’s only one thing it could have been.

Michael (frustrated): Isabel…

Max: Enough. Liz is right - we don’t know…but we can’t pretend it isn’t a possibility either.

Maria: Then what do we do, Obi-Wan?

Max: First we stay calm…rational…and second I don’t think any of you (motioning to the three of them on the couch) should be alone.

Liz: Maria can only stay so many nights in a row, Max.

Max: That’s what Michael and I are for. (Isabel looks at her brother and then over at Alex, who’s looking at her)

Alex/Isabel (at the same time shaking their heads): U-uh. (Everybody looks between them)

Isabel: I need sleep…on a comfortable bed.

Alex: And I need some self-respect - no matter how small. Two girls for best friends is one thing but a bodyguard - no way…I can’t recover from that.

Liz: Alex, this is serious.

Alex: Oh, I’m very serious. (He looks between Michael and Max) Which one of you am I staying with?

Michael: Look, he wouldn’t do anything tonight…why don’t we just wait and see what we can find out tomorrow?

Alex: I’m down with that.

Liz (looking at Maria): You think you can stay again tonight?

Maria: Yeah, I’ll just tell her it’s something for school.

Isabel (feeling bad): Are you sure, Alex?

Alex: Oh, yeah, besides, I have G.I. Joe for a dad, I’ll be fine.

(Scene: Alleyway behind the Crashdown, later that night. Michael is sitting on top of the dumpster. Max turns the corner and sees him)

Max (sitting next to him on the dumpster): You don’t have to stay…you did last night.

Michael: I kind of like it actually.

Max: What?

Michael (looking at Max from the corner of his eye): I just like knowin’ for myself…you know.

Max: Yeah, I know.

Michael: Look I’m used to staying up…go home, get some sleep…besides, we can’t have you lookin’ like shit again.

Max (chuckles): You sure?

Michael: Go. I’m sure.

Max (gets off the dumpster and lets out a sigh): Thanks. (Michael just nods at him and Max leaves, as he turns the corner Michael gets a sinister smile on his face and then he hears from the opposite end of the alleyway)

Michael: Hey. (The “Michael” on the dumpster turns to the sound looking just like Max)

Nasedo Max: Hey, Michael. What are you doing here?

Michael: You know the drill.

Nasedo Max: No I mean, you stayed last night…I’m fine here tonight.

Michael: You sure? I don’t mind.

Nasedo Max: Yeah, I’m sure, besides I couldn’t really sleep last night anyway…I think I missed the dumpster.

Michael (laughs): Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you missed.

Nasedo Max (gives him a sideways glance): Go…I’ve got it here.

Michael: Thanks…I could use some sleep…on a bed.

Nasedo Max (smiling): I bet you could. (Michael yawns and gives Nasedo Max a wave and then walks back the way he came. The sinister smile returns to Nasedo Max’s face and his gaze drifts up to the roof of the Crashdown.)

(Scene: Liz’s Roof, about an hour later. She looks over the edge of the roof to see Nasedo Max sitting on the dumpster)

Liz (softly): Hey. You coming up?

Nasedo Max (getting off the dumpster and looking up at her with that same smile): Just waiting to be invited. (He climbs the ladder)

Liz: You don’t need an invitation, Max.

Nasedo Max (reaching the top of the ladder, looking at her slyly): Oh, I don’t, do I?

Liz (playfully): Not unless you go kissing other girls again - then you’ll be banished for good.

Nasedo Max (looking at her curiously from the last comment): I’ll be sure to remember that.

Liz: You better, Max Evans.

Nasedo Max: Where’s Maria?

Liz: Making popcorn…dad’s forcing us to watch this movie tonight…I don’t remember what it’s called.

Nasedo Max: Forcing you, huh?

Liz: You know, one of those father-daughter-bonding things. Thank god mom didn’t tell him about the other night.

Nasedo Max: The other night?

Liz: Oh, I haven’t told you yet have I? My mom caught us.

Nasedo Max: What?

Liz: I mean, you were already gone but she saw the mugs and I was so startled when I woke up…I think I called out your name.

Nasedo Max (very interested): Really? What’d she say?

Liz: It was actually…surprising. She just wants us to be responsible…and I told her it was impossible for us not to be…I mean…it is us…(Looking at him shyly) Not that I don’t think about being…irresponsible.

Nasedo Max: Is that so?

Liz (moving closer to him): You know…we never got a chance to really talk about what happened.

Nasedo Max: It’s been pretty crazy lately, hasn’t it?

Liz (ever so slightly inching her way towards him): I meant what I said, Max. (He just looks at her) I hope you know that.

Nasedo Max (taking a step toward her so that he’s only inches away from her): Tell me again.

Liz (looks up at him a little surprised): I’ll never ask you to stay.

(That is so not what Nasedo Max is expecting to hear and he’s totally caught off guard. He just looks at her as she closes the distance between them and kisses him. The kiss deepens and a connection is made.

Liz sees: An aerial view above the desert somewhere outside of Roswell and then moving faster - a series of images getting closer to the ground. A bright flash - an explosion. Just stars. A desert landscape. A cave. Something silver she can’t make out. Another view of the desert landscape with the cave opening visible. A view looking down a highway.

Nasedo Max sees: Liz as a little girl seeing Max step of the bus in third grade. The shooting. Max connecting with her - and what she saw. Their first kiss. Michael sick with everyone standing around the circle and the fear for Max in her eyes. Max taking a step back. Max at the UFO Center telling her he can’t know her. Max kissing Tess. The letter Max wrote her. Them sleeping together on the couch. All the while hearing the words “I’ll never ask you to stay” repeatedly ringing in his ear.

They’re still kissing when Maria sticks her head out of Liz’s bedroom window)

Maria: Liz. Liz! (Liz pulls away from Nasedo Max just looking at him and catching her breath. He is equally taken aback from the images he saw and just stares at her) The movie starts in five minutes and you’re so not getting out of watching it. So say good night to Max and come inside before your dad comes out here looking for you. (With that she turns away from the window)

Liz (flustered by what just happened): Um…(she takes a step back towards her window) um…I’ve…gotta go. (Nasedo Max just nods at her) I’ll see you tomorrow…morning. (She goes inside her window and Nasedo Max watches her leave with an intent look on his face)

(Scene: Liz’s Roof, morning. Liz is sitting on the lounge chair. She’s staring at her journal. On the page is a picture she tried to draw of the desert landscape she saw in the vision from kissing Nasedo Max)

Voice Over: Seeing things when Max kisses me or touches me, I’ve come to expect…to love. It’s one of the things I wouldn’t trade for even a second of “normal” with Max. But it’s always been about us…I mean the images, they’ve always been Max…or me…or us. This was different…bigger than us. I’m staring at a path…the path he’s been looking for, waiting to find. I don’t know how I know, but I do. And when I show this to him today, I’ll be ready to walk down it with him…but for right now (she closes her journal) I’d like to think I just imagined it…and maybe I did. If I tell myself that enough times, do you think I’ll believe it?

(Scene: School, before classes. Liz is walking down the hallway and sees Max go into the vending room. She looks around the hallway - no one’s really around - and she follows him into it.)

Max (bending up from getting his snack and noticing Liz): Hey.

Liz (looking at him intently): Kiss me.

Max (totally taken aback): What?

(Liz pushes him around to the other side of the vending machine so no one can see them and then, standing on her tiptoes, she pulls him down and kisses him. It only takes Max a second to get over his shock of her forwardness and then he starts kissing her back. They kiss extremely passionately for a while. Finally coming up for air, they stop and Max just looks at her with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. She looks at him and furrows her brow. )

Liz: Did you see anything?

Max (confused and embarrassed by her comment): What?

Liz (confused): I didn’t see anything…not like last night. (She moves toward him again) Let’s try again.

Max (completely confused now): Last night?

Liz: Last night when we kissed, Max, I saw things.

Max: Last night?

Liz (giving him a playful look): You weren’t drunk again, were you?

Max (trying not to completely freak out): Last night we kissed…

Liz: On my roof…

Max: And you saw things?

Liz: They were flashes, like I was watching a really fast slideshow. (Max is just staring at her) Max, are you okay?

(Deputy Blackwood walks past the vending machine room and looking in the window sees Liz. He stops and enters)

Deputy Blackwood: Ms. Parker. (She turns startled) Have you seen Max Evans?

Liz: Um, yeah. (Max steps out from behind the vending machine)

Deputy Blackwood (looking at Max): The Sheriff needs to speak to you.

Max (in a state of confusion): Uh…okay. (He and Liz share a worried glance and then in a daze Max walks off and follows him)

(Scene: School Office. Max just follows Deputy Blackwood inside the office area - in his state of, what he thinks is delusion, he doesn’t notice Michael standing off to the side with a very panicked face. They enter an office and the Sheriff is sitting down at the desk. He motions for Max to sit down and then Deputy Blackwood leaves and shuts the door behind him)

Sheriff: Mr. Evans, where were you Saturday evening?

Max (still in a daze): Saturday evening? Home.

Sheriff: What time?

Max (cautiously): What is this about, Sheriff?

Sheriff (pulling out a picture from the folder on the desk he tosses it toward Max): Did you know this man?

Max (looks at the picture - it’s a close up of River Dog’s dead face): Um, no.

Sheriff: See, that’s where we’ve got a problem, Mr. Evans. I’ve got witnesses that say you and your friend Mr. Guerin knew this man and visited him - often.

Max: Sheriff, I was home Saturday night from 9 o’clock on. You can ask my parents.

Sheriff: I’ve already talked to your parents.

Max: Then what is this about?

Sheriff (pulls out another photo and tosses it to Max - studying Max’s reaction to the photo): What do you make of this?

Max (trying really hard not to react to the photo - it’s of River Dog’s body with a silver handprint on the back): I don’t know what that is?

Sheriff: That’s just what Mr. Guerin said. (Max quickly looks up from the photo to Sheriff Valenti) And I don’t believe you. See, this is the same handprint my son saw on Liz Parker’s stomach after the shooting…

Max (getting instinctively defensive): We’ve been over this, Sheriff…do I need to call my parents?

Sheriff (leaning over the desk toward Max): I’m watching you. (The school bell rings)

Max (nervously): Can I go now?

Sheriff (leaning back in the chair): For now.

(Max takes one last look at the photo of the handprint and then gets up from the chair and leaves the room. He walks into the school hallway and, before being able to process anything that’s happened, Michael comes up and grabs him by the arm and pulls him into an empty room.)

Michael (very panicky): He killed River Dog. (Max doesn’t say anything) Max.

Max (looking at Michael): Where were you last night?

Michael (almost angry): What?

Max: Where were you last night, Michael?

Michael: He kills fuckin’ River Dog and you want to know where the hell I was last night…

Max (upset, grabs Michael): Where the HELL were you last night?

Michael (shoving Max off of him): My apartment - what the fuck - I told you that last night.

Max (brings his hands up to his face and starts to panic): No, no you didn’t…you told me last night that you had everything covered at the Crashdown and I could go home.

Michael: What the hell are you talking about? You told me you had everything covered. (They just look at each other) What’s going on, Maxwell?

Max (shaking his head): I don’t know…I…it was him.

Michael: What?

Max: It had to have been him.

Michael: But I’ve felt him, I would have felt him…

Max: Not when he doesn’t want you to.

Michael: Are you saying he looks like one of us?

Max: No…I’m saying he can look like any of us…like anybody...

Michael: What?

Max: Think about it, Michael - we can manipulate molecular structure…we change things all the time, we’ve never tried to change ourselves beyond healing but…

Michael: Maxwell, are telling me he can turn himself into - anything?

Max: Oh my god, *he* kissed her.

Michael: What?

Max (talking really fast - like he’s thinking aloud): Liz said that she kissed me last night…that she saw things…it wasn’t me - it was him…I think I’m gonna be sick…

Michael: What do you mean saw things?

Max: What if he did something to her…what if he…

Michael (grabbing Max): Max! What things did she see?

Max: She didn’t say…Michael, he could have done something to her…to both of them

Michael: Max, if he wanted to do something he would have.

Max: Maybe we can’t see it…maybe by kissing her he gave her some sort of…disease…

Michael: Maxwell, one of us has to be calm and I really need it to be you.

Max (looking at Michael): Michael…

Michael: Max.

Max (taking several deep breaths and pausing to think): Okay…let’s think about this. He knew we’d find out…maybe he wanted us to find out…maybe he wanted Liz to see whatever she saw…maybe he wanted to see something from Liz.

Michael: Okay?

Max (shaking his head): What do I tell Liz?

Michael: How do you tell if it *is* Liz?

Back to Area 51 (Section III)