The Prophecy

Category: Other (Ava and Zan), but ultimately it’s about Max and Liz. Can’t seem to help myself :)
Rating: Suitable for all ages

Summary: So just how did Ava know Liz could save Max?
Spoilers: Max in the City

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Ava screamed. It felt just too real, she couldn’t take it anymore. The light came on in the Parker’s basement room she was using as her temporary residence.

“Are you ok?” Liz asked

“I saw it… I watched it happen again…” Ava managed to get out.

“What, what?”

“Zan… the accident… the way his body just laid there in the street!” She started to cry again.

Liz tried to comfort her as best she could. “Shh, it’s ok, it’s just a dream, a bad dream.”

“It’s all my fault… I should have stopped it… I COULD have stopped it. I should have known, I should have known…” she broke down.

“Known what? Known what?”

“Can’t talk about it…”

Liz was concerned. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was practically morning.

“Why don’t we get up and go upstairs?” she asked. “We could have a cup of tea or something. I don’t think I can go back to sleep.”

“Neither can I,” Ava answered. She had hardly slept at all since it happened. Her conscience wouldn’t let her. Guilt started to rise again. She should have known what Lonnie and Rath meant to do, she should have warned Zan. Then again, how could Zan not have known what the others were up to? He was their leader. He should have realized something was up. He could have….

She didn’t let herself finish that thought. She didn’t want to be angry at Zan. Zan was gone. It was wrong to be angry at him. She only had herself to blame. It was all her fault.

She realized that Liz was already halfway up the stairs, waiting for her to follow. She got up.

With dawn just breaking, the Crashdown was really quiet, peaceful. Ava felt a bit better. Liz made them tea and they sat at the counter.

“Tell me about Zan,” Liz asked.

“Zan was stubborn, strong. He put up a wall and you just couldn’t get through. He always tried to do everything right, to be perfect. He was like that, right up until…” her voice trailed off.

‘Sounds like Max’, Liz thought to herself. ‘I guess some of the podsters shared more of their original essence than the others’. Instead she said:

“You must have loved him a lot.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure he ever really loved me back though,” Ava looked sad.

“Why?”

“Just a feeling. I always felt like he was waiting for someone else to walk into his life.” She was pensive for a moment. She wasn’t telling Liz the whole truth. It was more than just a feeling. She knew Zan was waiting for someone else. A thought she couldn’t completely articulate was just out of reach at the edge of her mind. She let it go and decided not to dwell on the past anymore. ”So how about you? How did you find out about Max? He just hauled off and dropped the bomb one day?”

“No…" Liz smiled, and started telling the story of that day, a little over a year ago. That day that turned her life upside down. “Someone brought in a gun and it kinda went off and I got shot. I was dying, but Max brought me back.” It was nice to be able to tell the whole truth of what happened for a change.

“He brought you back?”

“Yeah,” Liz smiled, remembering.

'Oh my God, that’s it,' Ava thought. She looked at Liz again, amazed, everything falling into place.

When they were small children, the shape-shifter who was their protector tried to teach them as much as possible about their former lives, and the culture of their planet. Ava listened to these stories with one ear, but Zan had always been fascinated by them. Tales of war, friendship and betrayal had enthralled the others but the one Zan really cared about was the one the shape-shifter called the prophecy. And it was only because he repeated it to her so often, after the shape-shifter had gone, that Ava remembered this one at all.

Zan would wait for the others to fall asleep and then would take Ava through the sewers. They’d walk for miles and miles and come out in “the only place in New York City where you can see the stars at night”, Zan would say. She had never doubted that was true. The bright lights of the big city made it next to impossible to see anything else at night.

Zan would just sit there and stare at a V-shape constellation and tell her the story that had been passed on from generation to generation:

“One day there will live a great King
A good King
A fair King
But civil war will erupt in the kingdom
Those closest to the King will betray him
For lust and power, the kingdom will fall
But hope will not be lost
The King shall be reborn
On a star far away the King shall live again
There he will meet his true Queen
In one senseless act of violence the Queen will fall
But the King will bring her back
From then on they will become connected as one
One mind, one voice, one soul
You won’t be able to tell where one ends and the other begins
As their essence will be mixed
And together they shall bring back the peace”

Zan always ended his story with “Long live the Once and Future King”. He would sit in silence for a long time, and then get up and go back to where they lived, always making sure Ava was following.

How much Ava wished she was the one true Queen, even though Zan never saw her that way. She knew Zan liked her, that he would do anything for her, but he would have done anything for all of them. He felt it was his duty as their leader. But Ava wanted more. She wanted to be his soul the way Liz was Max’s.

And now she’d never have that.

For most of her life she had resented that other girl, the one who would eventually take Zan away from her. That was before she knew of the other 4. When she learned of their existence, she found herself wishing more and more that the others were the “real” Royals. That way, the other Zan could find the Queen and be one with her, if that was their destiny. She could have Zan to herself, and they could live happily ever after on this planet, free of their responsibilities to a world they had never even seen.

And now that she knew Liz was the one, she was glad. Fate could not have picked a better Queen for Max and his people. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Zan had lived long enough to meet Liz. Would he have also recognised her as the true Queen? Would Max and him have had to fight for her affection? That seemed unlikely. Ava doubted that Liz would ever have eyes for someone other than Max. She could understand that. She liked Max well enough, in many ways he was so much like Zan, but to her, he would always only be a pale copy, a substitute.

And Zan would never be back.

“You’re going soft on me now, girl?” she told herself. “What’s all the crap about destiny and being Zan’s true Queen and live a happy life as a human? Better get a hold of yourself before you lose it completely.” It wasn’t like her to dwell on her feelings so much. She had been in this cornball town a little too long.

A bit later, Michael and Isabel joined them at the Crashdown. They were all so worried about Max, questioning her about where the summit was being held, wanting her to tell them about what Lonnie and Rath had in mind for Max. If only they knew… but she wasn’t going to tell them. Even after all they did, they were still the closest thing she had to a family.

Michael tried to scare her into talking by using his powers, like he really had a chance if it came down to a battle of the alien abilities. Just then Liz walked in. She tried what Ava dubbed the “human approach”. She had spent a lifetime putting up this front so it never got to her. But to her own surprise, this time it worked. Maybe it was the tears in Liz’s eyes. She had no doubt they were genuine. Maybe it was the desperation in Liz’s voice as she pleaded with her.

“Max is in danger, you have to tell us. You lost Zan. Please don’t let me lose Max. I love him, you know and… I love him just as much as you did Zan. Please Ava, don’t let me lose him. Please!”

Liz’s words brought back memories of her nightmare. If only that’s all it had been.

“Lonnie and Rath killed Zan… and they’re probably gonna kill Max.”

It didn’t take them long to come up with a plan to have Isabel dreamwalk Max. But when it failed, they were stuck. No one had any idea for a back up plan.

Ava hesitated a moment. She had the key to Max’s safety. But should she tell the others? Not only would it change the dynamics between them once more, she didn’t feel it was really her place, or her cause. Where she came from, it was every girl for herself.

Images of Zan’s body on the street flashed through her mind and she made her decision. Zan was dead and nothing could bring him back. But maybe part of his spirit would live on in Max.

“Liz can do it,” she said suddenly, taking them all by surprise.

“What, what are you talking about?” Liz was probably the most surprised of them all.

“Max brought you back from the dead, you’ve been changed.”

There was a bit of confusion, and a lot of questions, but there was no time to explain. Ava knew it would work, they had to trust her.

She watched as Isabel asked Liz to take her hand. Liz was scared, it was understandable. But her love for Max was stronger than her fear, and she did as Isabel asked.

She watched as they both concentrated on Max. When she saw the look of surprise on Liz’s face, she knew she was there.

Suddenly Liz yelled “Watch out, Max!! Get out of the way!”

And with a start, Liz was back at the Crashdown.

“What happened? What did you see?” Isabel asked.

“Max… he was walking on the sidewalk. There was this thing above his head, Lonnie made it drop. She wanted to crush him with it. She wanted him dead!” Liz answered, still unable to believe what had just happened.

“But he heard you, right? Max heard you? He got out of the way?” Michael asked urgently.

“Yes, he got out of the way.” Relief washed over her. Max was safe. She turned to Ava and smiled. But she was still curious.

“How did you know?”

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It was time to leave Roswell. She had been here far too long as it was. Liz had insisted that she told her how she had known about her, but Ava had resisted the urge to spill the beans. She had stayed purposely vague in her explanations, leaving it at what she had already said: “An alien brought you back. That kind of thing will change you.” It was clear to Liz that she wouldn’t find out anything more, so she dropped the whole subject.

When Liz succeeded in saving Max, Ava also felt relief of a different kind. It proved to her that her theories that the others were the real Royal Four were accurate, which let her off the hook in terms of sticking around trying to save a planet that didn’t know she even existed. She wanted to start over, try this new life without the others, without that alien destiny… without Zan. She had decided to make a fresh start, to try the “human approach”. She was headed to California. Might as well start her new life someplace warm.

She got her few belongings together, and she was ready to leave.

“Bye. Good luck, ok?” Liz said.

“You too.”

She was taken by surprise when Liz hugged her. She couldn’t remember someone ever hugging her spontaneously in her whole life. 'Human experience number one,' she thought to herself.

“So cornball,” she told Liz with a smile. But maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing anymore.

With one last smile to Liz, she left.

Once in the alley, she ran into Max. He was by himself and seemed lost in his thoughts. He didn’t even notice her until she spoke up.

“Max?” When he jumped a little, she laughed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Hey, Ava.. No it’s ok, I… just have some things on my mind. So, you’re still here?” he said, then felt really silly. Obviously, genius, since you’re talking to her.

“I’m leaving actually. Umm, where’s Tess?” she had hoped to run into her duplicate one more time before leaving, maybe letting her know enough of the prophecy so that it would be fulfilled with a minimum of hurt feelings.

“She’s home. She’s not feeling so well…” Max stopped.

“Had a ‘fight’ with Lonnie and Rath, did she?” Ava said knowingly.

“You could say that.”

“Give her a few days. She should be like new in no time,” she told Max.

She was about to leave, but she had the feeling that Max had something more to say. She waited a few moments, but when he didn’t say a word, she decided to give him a hand.

“So you’re here to see Liz?”

“Yeah… There are some things we need to talk about.”

“Like the fact that you saw her in New York?”

“How did you know?” he was genuinely surprised.

“It was my idea,” she answered with a mysterious smile.

His expression had changed when she had mentioned Liz. There was something different in his eyes, something that was there only when things were about her. A little piece of her soul, Ava realized. Something of hers she never saw in Zan. Something of herself Tess would never see in Max. If she had any doubt left that Max and Liz were truly destined to be together, it was all washed away at that moment.

Ava had picked up on some issues between Max and Liz, hurt and pain. But she was confident that whatever it was, it wasn’t strong enough to break the bond that existed between them.

“How…” Max started.

“You two are connected. But I didn’t need to tell you that, did I?”

He shook his head, no. He looked sad.

“And no matter what happens, or what did happen, or what you think happened between you, you will ALWAYS be connected.”

She saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes, mixed in with his pain and his love for Liz. She had a little shiver. Max’s eyes were like Zan’s, an open book to his soul. And there were also questions in them. A lot of questions.

She stopped him before he could start asking them.

“Look, I have to leave, but she’ll tell you everything, ok?”

He reluctantly nodded his agreement, and looked up the ladder to Liz’s rooftop. He hesitated.

“You can go talk to her. In fact, I think you should. There are some things between you that will have to be said eventually.”

He nodded again, and with one last small smile to Ava, started up the ladder.

Ava turned to leave, for good this time. There’d be no more stops until she reached L.A. She had made up her mind not to tell Tess. Tess had to have figured out the way Max and Liz felt about each other, she was obviously a bright girl. 'I mean, she has to be, right, since I am?' she thought. She had to have figured out it had nothing to do with her.

And with that thought, Ava started her journey to her new life.

The end

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