Part 3: Lucky

I stand at the bottom of the ladder, my heart thumping in my chest in anticipation as I looked upwards towards the sky.

She was up there on her balcony. I could feel her presence from where I was standing. I was practically drowning in it…it was so sweet, so wonderful. Liz’s presence…it was heaven.

I took a deep breath, and pushed myself forward…up the ladder…to her.

I could see her sitting there, her back to me, as she hugged her journal close to her breast, and stared upwards at the stars.

I sat on the ledge and watched her. She was so beautiful. I was mesmerized by her presence, glued to my seat, unable to make a motion or even a sound. I felt her essence surrounding me. It felt as though I was drowning in it…in her. Could she feel my presence as I could feel her? Does she know that I’m here?

I was startled when she started to speak.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

For the first time all day I allow the tears to fill my eyes, as I listen to my love cry out in pain.

"You sent him here thousands of miles from his home, to my town. You allow us to fall madly in love, only to tear him away from me now? Why do you hate me so much? Why are you doing this to me? WHY?"

I listen to her words, and they tear at my heart, the way that they echo my own questions as Pierce tortured me. Another tear slips down my cheek, as I realize what my destiny is doing to her. Its torturing her…us both…in the same way as Pierce had done to me.

"Why do you have to take him away from me?" She whimpers, and I realize that she’s crying too. The sound of her pain destroys me, and I cannot sit there silently anymore. I stand and begin to move towards her.

"No one could ever take me away from you." I swear to her.

My heart flares up with excitement at his words, but my mind is screaming warnings at me as I watch him slowly approach me.

I’m a walking contradiction…one big huge walking contradiction. My heart is begging him to come closer, while my mind is begging me to run away again.

"What are you doing here Max?" My own voice surprised me. I had never known myself to be so dry and void of emotions before.

"I couldn’t just let it end like that, Liz. I love you."

"I love you too Max, but that’s why I have to let you go. I love you so much that I have to let you follow your destiny." My voice is so dead when compared to his emotion filled voice. What has happened to me?

"And I love you too much to let you go." Max responded immediately, firmly. "I need you in my life, Liz, and if my destiny means that I can’t have you, then screw destiny."

His words shock me back to reality, and I gasp aloud. "Max, you can’t actually mean that! You’re willing to let your entire race live out an eternity in bondage…you parents…just to be with me? You can’t do that!"

Her words hit me like a punch in the gut, and I stand there in silence. For once I don’t have an easy response to what she’s saying.

"You’re right." I slowly respond. "I’m not going to abandon my people like that."

"I know." She whispered, finally letting the emotion stream into her. "I know you Max. You’re too good of a person to do that. You have to do the right thing here, Max, and that means to let go of us."

"No." I responded stubbornly. "We’re talking about two different issues here, Liz. Where does it say that I have to be with Tess in order to save my people? It doesn’t, Liz. Anywhere. It may say that we were spouses in a previous life, and I can’t do anything to change that, but I’m not that person, I have no vows to Tess, and my heart already belongs to the most beautiful girl in the universe. Nothing is going to change that. I can still be with you, Liz, and do what I have to do. In fact…" Fear fills my heart, and I slowly meet her eyes to make sure that my point comes across loud and clear. "…I’m not sure if I can do it without you, Liz. I need you in my life. Without you, I’m nothing."

His desperate words startle me. He pleads at me with his eyes, begging me to reconsider. Damn him. Does he know what that look does to me? Suddenly I don’t feel like a rock…in fact, I feel like a mudslide, slipping and sliding myself back down to his level. I know that my softening is blatant in my eyes.

Max can see it too, and he takes a slow step towards me. "Please Liz." He begs.

For the first time I begin to realize just how terrified I am. This is all so much! It’s so big. The boy I am in love with is really the reincarnated leader of an alien race who is destined to deliver his people from bondage. It sounds like something out of mythology or something. Something that isn’t really real. And it’s not just that stuff either. There’s something else that I’m afraid of too…

What happens when he’s ready to go home? Will he just leave me?

I couldn’t deal with him leaving me. Maybe that’s why I decided to be the one to leave him, because my biggest fear in the world is rejection from Max.

I know that the fear has slipped into my eyes, and he stares at me, obviously concerned.

"It’ll never last, Max. If you can’t take separation from me now, how will you deal with it when we don’t have a choice in the matter."

But we do have a choice, Liz. We can be together forever if we want. Please let me prove it to you."

I sigh with frustration. He doesn’t get it. "You have to go home eventually, Max."

Realization and understanding sweep into his eyes. "I know."

"So you’ll just leave me."

"What if you came with me, Liz?"

His words startle me. I never even considered that possibility. "Come with you?" I stammer. "Is that even possible, Max?"

"It has to be possible, Liz. What have we found out the past few days? I’m mostly human, Liz. I have a human body. It’s just my blood that’s alien. If I can physically handle space travel, so can you."

It makes sense, I realize. We aren’t as different as we always thought.

"How do you do that Max?"

"Do what?"

"Come up with all the answers like that."

"Because I love you, and I’ll do anything to be with you. Please Liz, don’t run away from this. We belong together. Stay with me, be with me, and leave with me when it’s time."

I stare up into the eyes of the only man that I will ever love, and I know that this is real. Everything that he’s saying, everything that we’re feeling. We do belong together. We were lucky enough to find our hearts in each other…running from these feelings was impossible.

I smile up at him for the first time since he heard his destiny, a smile which was loaded with possibility for the future. I step to his side, and take his hand. At the first touch, a connection is formed between the two of us, and with our minds and our hearts completely open to each other, we swore to stand by each other’s side, to never let go of us, for the rest of our lives.