Michael lay next to her, her body still masked in the shadows of early dawn. She was curled next to him, pressing into his body, her breath warm on his skin. He watched her, like he vaguely remembered doing a long, long time ago.

She smiled and snuggled closer to him, her heat shared with his. Reaching up to brush away a stray strand of hair he thought back to the previous hours. She had touched him with all the expertise of an artist, one that had done the same thing over a millions times, knowing his body by rote. Each time she'd kissed, her silk like lips caressing his flesh with a lover's touch, a disjointed flash of memory hit him.

Nothing concrete, there was a type of mental wall the blocked out the full wave of the past to touch him. No, nothing concrete. Only the strange sensation that he'd done it all before, touched her, felt her touch him, loved her with desperate abandon. His heart ached in a way he never thought it could, wanting to remember, wanting to see the past that she and Isabel were able to see, the one the Katie had come from.

He caught flashes of that place too, vague and nondescript, only high pillared walls of white, and statues of marble and granite. He knew there was something out of place, some reason why he wasn't remembering, something holding him back. But what?

Maria looked up at her lover, his profile showed how deeply immersed in thought he was. She smiled, resting her hand on his chest, feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing. She could feel his heart thrumming beneath his flesh, steady and even. She smiled.

A sensation of peace washed over the small blonde woman that lay next to him, while anxious worry filled Michael. What if he never remembered?

What if his alien genetics were ready and waiting to jump in and cause a problem for him?

He didn't think he could stand to hurt her again; her heart and his simply couldn't take the strain. He looked down at Maria, who was watching him quietly. "Maria," he began softly, not sure what to say.

"You don't remember, do you?" she asked quietly, looking up at him, "you're worried that you never will…"

He nodded, and she smiled, pulling him closer to her. She kissed him tenderly, trying to convey everything she felt, but knowing that nothing could do so accurately.

"I don't care," she whispered, resting her forehead against his. "I don't care."

"But what if something happens, what if you get hurt?" he asked warily, sadly.

"I don't care," she said reassuringly, "I'll hurt more if I don't have you." It was true, she felt whole for the first time and even the thought of losing him again made her heart ache terribly.He smiled down at her.

"You know what?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

"I think I love you," he smiled, kissing her forehead, tears touched Maria's eyes, her heart swelled and one, single, perfect crystalline tear tumbled from her cheek onto his chest, above where his heart resided.

The tear seemed to seep into Michael's flesh; a pale red glow began to form around him from where the tear had landed. Silver tints dispersed throughout the red, and Maria smiled.

"I know I love you," she whispered, and suddenly, Michael felt a searing pain throughout him, as if something had been torn free. Some barrier, a wall, perhaps. Maria jumped back startled, as he arched of the bed in a moan of agony. "Oh god," she whispered quietly, "oh god, this isn't right…"

She remembered her own awakening, calm and flowing, clear as day. This was violent, searing, burning away the barriers that held back a flood of memories. She reached out to touch him, but something held her back, the red perhaps, something in the color told her not to.

She watched in horror and her lover's features twisted in agony, and she cried silently, praying for it to be over.Why had her awakening been so different?

And then her heart knew. She knew why he was in agony; she knew why he was screaming her name, yet she was frightened to touch him.

She knew how he had died.

Maria screamed in heart breaking agony, tears flooding her eyes, she remembered how she had died, set to drown in the crystal pond, she remembered feeling at peace as she left the world, her thoughts to herself, to god echoed in her ears now. 'God, oh god, kill me before my heart breaks again,' she'd cried, her tears joining the tepid waters of the pool she lay in, 'I can't bear life without him, I can't bear death without him, please, please, keep him safe…'

She looked at his body through a mask of tears, her heart constricting. She saw him die; slowly immersed in liquid hot steel. His flesh seared, near coming off. His screams were muted by the white-hot agony that filled him. But his thoughts were serene, filled only of her, his pixie goddess.

Slowly, a tear fell from Michael's clenched eye, and Maria's heart broke for the thousandth time.Within himself, Michael was lost.

His soul showed him the only way out of the red fog that surrounded him. He heard her crying; screaming, and his heart ached to go to her. As he passed down the road of memories, wave after wave of them assaulting him, pushing him back, away from the one thing that lit his life, both then and now.

One violent image attacked him then, knocking him unceremoniously to the ground.

She was dying.

Laying face down in the crystal pond, bound to her fate. He choked out a strangled sob and crawled onward, images of his life after her death falling upon him with greater force than he could stand.

He saw himself, lost, clinging to Isabel, her blonde hair in shambles, her beauty worn from the loss of her friend. He was no better; his body had grown frail, weakened from having half of his soul torn away from him.

Nothing mattered to that man, nothing and no one. Except her, her sparkling green eyes, clear, perfect skin.

But she was gone, and Michael crawled on, only permitting a single tear to slip from his eyes.

He burned, his flesh searing, but on he went, not strong enough to stand. His heart ached, and longed to stop, it slowed to a crawling pace, hindering Michael's journey further. But he continued nonetheless, body, mind, and soul all weary from the journey thus far.

Up ahead he saw something flicker, the red carrion fog that had suffocated him was quickly fading, silver mists of cooling peace replacing them.

'Stop!' his mind screamed at him, 'you can stop now!' his muscles agreed, but he persisted, his heart holding him to a promise he'd made to her long ago.

'No matter where, or when, or why, I know that I love you, and I think that you love me. So it doesn't matter what happens, I'll watch over you.' His words echoed through the mist, forcing him forward. He stopped abruptly; a shattering scream filled the air.'Maria!'

He stumbled to his feet, despite the physical anguish he felt. Running fast towards the source of the sound he found a small child, silver blue hair, huddled in a small ball, weeping. As he approached she changed, now a beautiful woman, graceful silver hair falling around her, tears making ruddy tracks down her immaculate face, he moved closer she changed again.

Now he saw her for who she was, her short, wild blonde hair falling in her eyes, tears covering her pretty face. She was huddled up in a ball, shivering from cold.

It was no surprise; she was naked as the day she was born, her legs hiding her body from him. His face fell. "Katydid?" he asked softly, she looked up at him.

"Listen," she whispered, her eyes wild and frightening, "no, no, don't listen to me!" she cried, "listen!"

He was confused. But he knew that it was meant as a warning, his eyes closed, he listened.

Within his soul he heard it, the soft click of heels, dark laughter, flashes of pain were sent through him.

"Listen, listen!" Katie shrieked, rocking back and forth. Michael looked up, saw a hooded figure, and ran. He ran past Katie, through the silver mist.

'Maria!' his mind shrieked at him, 'Maria, please be alright!' And up ahead he saw it, the small windows of his self. He surged forward, the laughter following him, along with the disconcerting, manic cries of "listen! Listen!" from Katie, who, he assumed, still rocked herself, shivering, somewhere behind him.

He shot through the small opening, and heard a slamming sound and a frustrated shriek behind him. He drew in a deep breath of air and opened his eyes.

The red-silver aura had sunk into his body the same way the silver-blue aura had sunk into Maria. He saw her smiling down at him through tears, and he remembered everything.

He pulled her down to him, his body didn't ache, but his head and his heart did. "God, Maria," he whispered, burying his face into her hair.