That's right, I didn't think about it. Your hand. You don't know.
We're from a different time Michael. Noah. He had Isobel and was going to kill you and her, I think. Put me in a pod, or maybe all of us. He just said me, but I don't remember. I was hurt and you came in.
You threw him against a wall and I heard the storm outside and knew. I knew that I could do it. I pulled the lightning into my hands and threw it at him.
[ He'd known Liz had more time on him, but not Max. This is weird.
He's gonna go, though. He heads over to the elevator, and has the bizarre experience of coming out into the Up, which honestly isn't a place he's been that much. It's not that welcoming to submissives on their own, and there isn't really a need to come here much anyway. Unless you're just passing through.
But today there's a reason. He keeps his head down and his hat on, and looks for Max. He's managed to largely stay out of trouble since he came back to life, and he's looking to keep that record. ]
[It really was weird that they were from so close in time, but not the same time. It made life a little bit more difficult, but that was fine. At least one of their powers could come in handy.
He didn't use the ability to share memories or thoughts often, but it was something Max could do and he figured that it would make it way easier to explain what happened so that Michael would understand it perfectly.
Plus, he'd been working hard on a few other things for the two of them. He knew that it wouldn't go over well, but that was tough shit. This place was not going away and they weren't going to be whisked back to roswell anytime soon. They might as well make do with what they could while they were here.
So, It was with all those thoughts and a few more that Max met his brother at the elevators. He hated that his brother got stuck in the Down and he in the UP, so stupid.] Hey, Michael. Over here.
[ Michael heads over to him. He's in the Up so rarely that he doesn't even know the place that well. He'd only seen the Up apartments on that first day, from the train he'd been kicked off for fighting.
His expression is shuttered, like it usually is, but inwardly he's worried about this. He's worried about whatever the hell happened to Noah, what happened to Max. Michael had left Caulfield wanting to save Noah, but apparently not long afterwards he'd helped Max fight him, so there's clearly a story. ]
Hey, [ he says, hooking his thumbs around his belt. ]
So I just figured, we were from the same time. What'd you mean when you said 'my hand'?
Okay, so first we'll hit my apartment, and then I've got something to show you.
[Maybe Max is worried a little bit about everything that went down, but everything here just seems to be at the forefront at his mind right now. So, to go strolling backward to a place where he's not even sure if he's alive-- that's a little harder, and the more he thinks about it the more he wishes he'd just given Michael a smoothed over version of everything.
Then again, after sharing things the way they had, Max isn't really certain he could go back to keeping things from Michael again.]
Right, your hand. [He takes a deep breath, and takes off walking toward his place which isn't too far off thankfully. He doesn't bother to turn around as he speaks, but knows that Michael can hear him.] I healed it.
[ Michael's taking the opportunity to look, properly, at the up. It's a sight to see. Everything's tidy. Everything's bright. There's nothing broken, nothing that needs patched up, nothing that's old. None of the streets have potholes, and the sun is splitting the sky.
He hadn't realised that he'd gotten used to the Down. To how dark it is, how dirty. He wonders if Max can smell it on him. It takes him uncomfortably back to when he'd been passed around foster homes, always smelling like someone else's laundry, always less than everyone around him. It'd be easy for him to get lost in those kinds of thoughts.
He snaps back to the present at that admission. ]
You what? [ He stares at Max. He can't be that far ahead of him, and Michael knows his feelings about his hands haven't suddenly changed. He frowns, willing his brother to explain. ] I told you why I keep it this way. You know that, Max.
[Max lets them walk in silence for a little while. He's hated that they've trapped his brother in the down. Once more Michael has settled into a life where he's less than. It's nothing that he deserves and Max is pretty determined to get him out of it, all the while knowing that Michael doesn't take kindly to handouts-- but they've shared a lot in the last while, and if ever they're gonna trust each other over anything, it's now.
Okay, Max expected that reaction. He paused in his journey even though they weren't that far away and turned to his brother.] I know how you felt. I was just running high on emotions. I was upset, frustrated. I didn't want you living in the past anymore. You needed to move on to the future, our future and so I made a choice to start using my powers for good.
Maybe it was the worst one at the time, but I did it, and I don't know what happened much afterward. Because things happened, and I resurrected Rosa, and now I'm here.
[okay, so he skipped the part about him dying. Michael would see all that in a minute. He'd see everything. Max wasn't going to hide anything away anymore. They didn't need lies.] Come on, we're almost there, and you can see it all yourself.
[ Michael blinks hard. He's not over the first revelation before Max goes straight onto something worse. He goes cold, his eyes wide. ]
You did what?
[ How was that even possible? He'd tried at the time. He'd tried to heal her, to bring her back, and it hadn't worked.
And then they'd faked the car crash, and there'd been a fire, and it was supposed to be done. And the whole thing had ruined them. Michael's life, such as it was, had fallen apart that night. The secret had destroyed so much for him. It had been the beginning of the end of what was happening between him and Alex. It had entirely ruined his relationship with Max. It had all been pretty definitive.
Michael quickly goes after him, full of questions. ]
Max, I...she's been dead for ten years, what the hell did you do?
[ He's still walking, and now not even really paying attention to where they're going. ]
I healed her, Michael. I brought her back to life...
[Yes, he knows all the horrible things that they had to do, and he knows how they destroyed Michael's life over it. He knows how none of them were ever the same and how it had taken literally this city to bring Michael and Max back together again.
Nothing about this admission is easy. There's anxiety and a small bit of terror binding up Max's heart right now, but he also knows that his brother has felt every single bit of love that he's ever had for him. They've shared that too. So, maybe they'd be able to handle this together.
Plus, there's something beyond the bad news, Max knows there is, because he also knows that Liz is from another time, and while she acted weird around Max, she didn't act like he was dead.
They hit the apartments, and Max couldn't bring himself to say anything else until he opened the door and had closed it behind him. He waited until he could really look at his brother. ]
We found out that she was trapped in one of our pods, and after everything that happened. I had to try. I had to heal, I knew I wanted to destroy. I .. I wanted to kill again, but I couldn't. I had to heal, Michael. I was done not using my powers and so I went out there and I pulled her out and I healed her. I don't know...exactly... what happened after. I got pulled here.
[He walks over to the couch and with a heavy sigh sits down, looking up at Michael and hoping to god that he didn't just ruin everything between them. They were at this 'place' back home, but this was a lot for anyone to handle, even Max.
It was why he hadn't really taken it out or unpacked any of it until now. Now he was about to go through all the memories in his head, he was going to have to force himself to relive it all.]
So many questions run through his head - among them, how the hell Max could've been so stupid. He can't believe what he's hearing. He pushes his hands into his hair, his eyes wide, and he turns on the spot while he thinks it through. ]
So you just...
You resurrected a girl that everyone knows died. Infamously. Max, how could you--?
[ He steps forward, trying to focus himself. ]
Do you want us exposed? Is that what this is? Because I don't know how you think this is not going to do that. Dead girls don't just stand up again and go back to a town like Roswell. People are gonna know. What's she supposed to say to her family?
God, what's she supposed to say to Liz? Did you even tell her about this? Did she ask you to?
[ She would ask, he thinks. She'd be right to. Of course she would put her own family before theirs. Michael wouldn't expect anything else; he would after all do the same.
I think... [Fuck! He knew that all this was a bad idea. He had done it all on impulse, and the thoughts that had moved him then were all tied up in the energy of what was going on in the moment. His love for Liz trumped all when his family was safe, that included his life at the time, but how could he explain that now, now that life was different on so many levels already.]
No.. I don't want us exposed. I didn't want to live in the past any more. I wanted to do something real for Liz. Could you imagine if one of us died, Isobel, me? Wouldn't you do anything to bring us back? I would die if it meant I could bring you back, so why couldn't I take the same risk for her, Michael. I had to... plus, I think she.. I think Liz is from ahead of us. I don't want to ask her much because I don't want to know.
[he drops his head, and falls back onto his couch, putting his face into his hands with a long sigh, hating to say the next words-- having been avoiding them since he came here, and the reality of what he knew, and the truth he'd been avoiding.]
I don't want to hear her say I'm dead, Michael. I died bringing Rose back. I know I did, but what I don't understand that if Liz is from ahead of us, why isn't she acting like I was dead. Is she that good of an actress? I can't... I don't even want to think about it.
[Truth be told, Max hasn't really taken the time to process this himself. He hasn't just sat down and really thought about the fact that he'd felt that cold chill take him away from his body and into some dark space that wasn't on earth. He really wasn't sure where he'd gone, but he knew that he'd died, and then when his eyes opened next, he was here.
Every time he let his mind touch on it, there was just this sense of existential dread. There was something evil that wavered around his death and he didn't know what it was. It scared him, just as much as the thought of never being there for Michael or Isobel again. Turning, Max pulled his leg up on the couch and let out a long, shaky breath. This was really the last thing that he wanted to talk about. ]
I haven't talked to Liz about it, no. I plan on doing it. It's just that every time I've tried to talk to her, she ends up jumping me and we have sex. It's been... a problem. [he huffs out a sigh, and rubs at his face, frustration more than obvious. He knows that he has to talk to her sometime, but the distance between them has grown deeper and he feels extremely awkward now that certain things have happened in his life, and he can't shake this feeling of something bad coming.]
When I got here, she touched me like she was checking me over for health problems, and making sure I took it easy. She didn't act like I'd just risen from the dead. I don't know Michael. I didn't want to do that to either you or Isobel. I wasn't thinking straight. [his voice goes soft, and he drops his head] You have to know that I'd never do it now. Please Michael. You have to know that I'd never risk my life, or leave you. I promised you. I won't leave you. I'm sorry.
[Once again, Max finds himself apologizing for the stupid that he's done, and needing forgiveness for his impulsive emotional nature that forever seems to get him in trouble with his siblings. ]
[ Michaels' shaking his head, his eyes wide. He has to get on top of this. Max is obviously struggling with it, unsurprisingly, and he needs Michael to not. At least for right now.
He takes a few deep breaths and then goes to sit beside him, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. Okay. They can figure this out. ]
You're damned impulsive and reckless. You can't just--
[ Another breath. ]
Look. Liz is from later than us. Much later. If she wasn't surprised to see you alive, that's a good sign. Maybe you're wrong.
[ Please, god, let him be wrong. ]
I don't care if she keeps jumping you. She was here for months without you, I'm not surprised she's happy to see her boyfriend. But you have to talk to her and find out what happened, Max. We need to know.
And if you're right, we'll find a way to fix it. I don't care. I'm not just gonna let you die.
[ He says that, and for a heartbeat he's quiet. Then, still not looking at Max, he puts his hand on his shoulder and takes a firm hold. This is his brother. Michael is not going to lose him. After everything they've been through, everything they've acknowledged about each other? There's no way. ]
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no subject
Date: 2020-08-10 11:35 pm (UTC)You can what?
Since when?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 12:08 am (UTC)We're from a different time Michael. Noah. He had Isobel and was going to kill you and her, I think. Put me in a pod, or maybe all of us. He just said me, but I don't remember. I was hurt and you came in.
You threw him against a wall and I heard the storm outside and knew. I knew that I could do it. I pulled the lightning into my hands and threw it at him.
I killed him.
I saved us.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 09:40 pm (UTC)Max, I don't
Last thing I remember I was driving back to Roswell to save him, from the serum that was killing him
What the hell happened?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 10:20 pm (UTC)Okay.
You gotta meet me at the elevator, though, I'm sure as hell not wearing a collar up there.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 11:43 pm (UTC)Okay
If you want, I can come now
no subject
Date: 2020-08-12 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-13 01:59 am (UTC)He's gonna go, though. He heads over to the elevator, and has the bizarre experience of coming out into the Up, which honestly isn't a place he's been that much. It's not that welcoming to submissives on their own, and there isn't really a need to come here much anyway. Unless you're just passing through.
But today there's a reason. He keeps his head down and his hat on, and looks for Max. He's managed to largely stay out of trouble since he came back to life, and he's looking to keep that record. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-15 11:29 pm (UTC)He didn't use the ability to share memories or thoughts often, but it was something Max could do and he figured that it would make it way easier to explain what happened so that Michael would understand it perfectly.
Plus, he'd been working hard on a few other things for the two of them. He knew that it wouldn't go over well, but that was tough shit. This place was not going away and they weren't going to be whisked back to roswell anytime soon. They might as well make do with what they could while they were here.
So, It was with all those thoughts and a few more that Max met his brother at the elevators. He hated that his brother got stuck in the Down and he in the UP, so stupid.] Hey, Michael. Over here.
[he waved his arm to call michael over]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-15 11:36 pm (UTC)His expression is shuttered, like it usually is, but inwardly he's worried about this. He's worried about whatever the hell happened to Noah, what happened to Max. Michael had left Caulfield wanting to save Noah, but apparently not long afterwards he'd helped Max fight him, so there's clearly a story. ]
Hey, [ he says, hooking his thumbs around his belt. ]
So I just figured, we were from the same time. What'd you mean when you said 'my hand'?
no subject
Date: 2020-08-17 10:41 pm (UTC)[Maybe Max is worried a little bit about everything that went down, but everything here just seems to be at the forefront at his mind right now. So, to go strolling backward to a place where he's not even sure if he's alive-- that's a little harder, and the more he thinks about it the more he wishes he'd just given Michael a smoothed over version of everything.
Then again, after sharing things the way they had, Max isn't really certain he could go back to keeping things from Michael again.]
Right, your hand. [He takes a deep breath, and takes off walking toward his place which isn't too far off thankfully. He doesn't bother to turn around as he speaks, but knows that Michael can hear him.] I healed it.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-21 04:43 pm (UTC)He hadn't realised that he'd gotten used to the Down. To how dark it is, how dirty. He wonders if Max can smell it on him. It takes him uncomfortably back to when he'd been passed around foster homes, always smelling like someone else's laundry, always less than everyone around him. It'd be easy for him to get lost in those kinds of thoughts.
He snaps back to the present at that admission. ]
You what? [ He stares at Max. He can't be that far ahead of him, and Michael knows his feelings about his hands haven't suddenly changed. He frowns, willing his brother to explain. ] I told you why I keep it this way. You know that, Max.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-23 08:19 pm (UTC)Okay, Max expected that reaction. He paused in his journey even though they weren't that far away and turned to his brother.] I know how you felt. I was just running high on emotions. I was upset, frustrated. I didn't want you living in the past anymore. You needed to move on to the future, our future and so I made a choice to start using my powers for good.
Maybe it was the worst one at the time, but I did it, and I don't know what happened much afterward. Because things happened, and I resurrected Rosa, and now I'm here.
[okay, so he skipped the part about him dying. Michael would see all that in a minute. He'd see everything. Max wasn't going to hide anything away anymore. They didn't need lies.] Come on, we're almost there, and you can see it all yourself.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-27 03:28 am (UTC)You did what?
[ How was that even possible? He'd tried at the time. He'd tried to heal her, to bring her back, and it hadn't worked.
And then they'd faked the car crash, and there'd been a fire, and it was supposed to be done. And the whole thing had ruined them. Michael's life, such as it was, had fallen apart that night. The secret had destroyed so much for him. It had been the beginning of the end of what was happening between him and Alex. It had entirely ruined his relationship with Max. It had all been pretty definitive.
Michael quickly goes after him, full of questions. ]
Max, I...she's been dead for ten years, what the hell did you do?
[ He's still walking, and now not even really paying attention to where they're going. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-08-31 03:32 am (UTC)[Yes, he knows all the horrible things that they had to do, and he knows how they destroyed Michael's life over it. He knows how none of them were ever the same and how it had taken literally this city to bring Michael and Max back together again.
Nothing about this admission is easy. There's anxiety and a small bit of terror binding up Max's heart right now, but he also knows that his brother has felt every single bit of love that he's ever had for him. They've shared that too. So, maybe they'd be able to handle this together.
Plus, there's something beyond the bad news, Max knows there is, because he also knows that Liz is from another time, and while she acted weird around Max, she didn't act like he was dead.
They hit the apartments, and Max couldn't bring himself to say anything else until he opened the door and had closed it behind him. He waited until he could really look at his brother. ]
We found out that she was trapped in one of our pods, and after everything that happened. I had to try. I had to heal, I knew I wanted to destroy. I .. I wanted to kill again, but I couldn't. I had to heal, Michael. I was done not using my powers and so I went out there and I pulled her out and I healed her. I don't know...exactly... what happened after. I got pulled here.
[He walks over to the couch and with a heavy sigh sits down, looking up at Michael and hoping to god that he didn't just ruin everything between them. They were at this 'place' back home, but this was a lot for anyone to handle, even Max.
It was why he hadn't really taken it out or unpacked any of it until now. Now he was about to go through all the memories in his head, he was going to have to force himself to relive it all.]
no subject
Date: 2020-09-06 04:30 pm (UTC)So many questions run through his head - among them, how the hell Max could've been so stupid. He can't believe what he's hearing. He pushes his hands into his hair, his eyes wide, and he turns on the spot while he thinks it through. ]
So you just...
You resurrected a girl that everyone knows died. Infamously. Max, how could you--?
[ He steps forward, trying to focus himself. ]
Do you want us exposed? Is that what this is? Because I don't know how you think this is not going to do that. Dead girls don't just stand up again and go back to a town like Roswell. People are gonna know. What's she supposed to say to her family?
God, what's she supposed to say to Liz? Did you even tell her about this? Did she ask you to?
[ She would ask, he thinks. She'd be right to. Of course she would put her own family before theirs. Michael wouldn't expect anything else; he would after all do the same.
But Max? He'd put them all in danger, again. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-09-10 10:13 pm (UTC)No.. I don't want us exposed. I didn't want to live in the past any more. I wanted to do something real for Liz. Could you imagine if one of us died, Isobel, me? Wouldn't you do anything to bring us back? I would die if it meant I could bring you back, so why couldn't I take the same risk for her, Michael. I had to... plus, I think she.. I think Liz is from ahead of us. I don't want to ask her much because I don't want to know.
[he drops his head, and falls back onto his couch, putting his face into his hands with a long sigh, hating to say the next words-- having been avoiding them since he came here, and the reality of what he knew, and the truth he'd been avoiding.]
I don't want to hear her say I'm dead, Michael. I died bringing Rose back. I know I did, but what I don't understand that if Liz is from ahead of us, why isn't she acting like I was dead. Is she that good of an actress? I can't... I don't even want to think about it.
no subject
Date: 2020-09-13 03:39 pm (UTC)How can this be a thing they're talking about? No one has mentioned this to him, not Alex not Liz, and not Kyle. None of them. He shakes his head. ]
No. No, that can't...
Have you asked her? Jesus, Max!
[ His hands go into his hair and he turns around on the spot, still processing this. ]
How could you...you can't just do that to us! To Isobel, to me? We need you, I need you. Do you not get that? You can't just leave us alone!
no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 11:43 pm (UTC)Every time he let his mind touch on it, there was just this sense of existential dread. There was something evil that wavered around his death and he didn't know what it was. It scared him, just as much as the thought of never being there for Michael or Isobel again. Turning, Max pulled his leg up on the couch and let out a long, shaky breath. This was really the last thing that he wanted to talk about. ]
I haven't talked to Liz about it, no. I plan on doing it. It's just that every time I've tried to talk to her, she ends up jumping me and we have sex. It's been... a problem. [he huffs out a sigh, and rubs at his face, frustration more than obvious. He knows that he has to talk to her sometime, but the distance between them has grown deeper and he feels extremely awkward now that certain things have happened in his life, and he can't shake this feeling of something bad coming.]
When I got here, she touched me like she was checking me over for health problems, and making sure I took it easy. She didn't act like I'd just risen from the dead. I don't know Michael. I didn't want to do that to either you or Isobel. I wasn't thinking straight. [his voice goes soft, and he drops his head] You have to know that I'd never do it now. Please Michael. You have to know that I'd never risk my life, or leave you. I promised you. I won't leave you. I'm sorry.
[Once again, Max finds himself apologizing for the stupid that he's done, and needing forgiveness for his impulsive emotional nature that forever seems to get him in trouble with his siblings. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-10-04 02:55 pm (UTC)He takes a few deep breaths and then goes to sit beside him, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. Okay. They can figure this out. ]
You're damned impulsive and reckless. You can't just--
[ Another breath. ]
Look. Liz is from later than us. Much later. If she wasn't surprised to see you alive, that's a good sign. Maybe you're wrong.
[ Please, god, let him be wrong. ]
I don't care if she keeps jumping you. She was here for months without you, I'm not surprised she's happy to see her boyfriend. But you have to talk to her and find out what happened, Max. We need to know.
And if you're right, we'll find a way to fix it. I don't care. I'm not just gonna let you die.
[ He says that, and for a heartbeat he's quiet. Then, still not looking at Max, he puts his hand on his shoulder and takes a firm hold. This is his brother. Michael is not going to lose him. After everything they've been through, everything they've acknowledged about each other? There's no way. ]