Max turned his head to the left. Quickly both he and Liz unbuckled their seatbelts and exited Max's door, holding hands. Liz knew without being told that he could feel Isabel in that direction. They had walked a few feet to the edge of the road when she began to feel Michael. There was a large shrub there and they knelt down to its level in order to hide themselves.

Liz forced herself not to gasp out loud when she saw the sight that greeted them. She saw her friends, her family, lined up facing three people. While normally that wouldn't have worried her too much, Alex, Maria and Kyle were tied up and knocked unconscious at their feet. Leaving only Michael, Isabel, Tess and Ava standing.

"So, you're the Royal Four, well and one pathetic duplicate," one of the men said with a sneer in his voice. "And not even the more powerful female duplicate at that."

Michael moved to stand in front of the girls to protect them. But he was soon slammed on to his knees on the ground.

"Not so fast, mister man," another man said as he slowly approached him, while his friends held the three female aliens in place with their powers. "Now, which are you? The King or the Second?"

Michael looked up, his eyes consumed with a burning green and deep red light that threatened to blind the man before him. "Ah, thank you for answering my question, Rath," the man said practically spitting out the name. "I'm going to enjoy killing you. Enjoy making you pay for the death of my brother." The man took a step back and raised his hand to build up his power source but before he could, he was knocked away from Michael with a force that sent him flying.

Max had shot at the man attempting to attack Michael, knocked him several feet and killing him. His body slowly disintegrated in the desert sand. Michael stood up shaken and Liz ran into his arms tears pouring down her face. He squeezed her briefly before placing her behind him and sending her towards Maria, Alex and Kyle to untie them.

Max and Michael approached the other men from different sides preparing to trap them. But they were not going to allow it to happen. They weakened their hold on the females and prepared to shoot at the men. But they never got the chance.

Ava created a mindwarp around the men. A shield surrounded them in a mixture of purple and pink. Then everyone felt themselves held into place by a force they couldn't fight. Ava smiled softly at them with an expression of sorrow, love, and a plea for forgiveness especially to Michael, Liz and Alex, who was just waking.

She moved towards the shield encasing the men and entered it.

"Ava! NOOO!!" they screamed, trying to stop her from entering the shield but they were too late. She had let them go, but they knew that they couldn't try to enter or else they would risk not only Ava, but themselves. So they forced themselves to wait.

Ava was able to knock one of the men unconscious and began to engage in a mental battle with the other. The shield was about four feet across in diameter and they would have been able to grasp hands firmly if they reached out. But they didn't. Their hands were tucked in close to their sides, almost as if they were tiring to form a solid mass, a ball perhaps.

The others could not see what was happening simply because the battle field was not in front of them or even on earth. It was on another plane of existence, one where only the two of them were at.

The plane was dark, the dark of the deep ocean late at night, inky but beautiful.

"Now I know I'm fighting a woman," the man said. "Only a woman picks such a empty yet beautiful place to die in. Are you ready to die, little one?"

Ava laughed cruelly and the man was shocked by it. Maybe he had been wrong. Was this the Crown Princess?

"I think the proper question to ask is are you ready to get your ass kicked by a slip of a girl?" Ava said, but before giving him a chance to react, she hit him with a bolt of power, knocking him to the ground.

He pushed himself up off of the ground, shaking his head. *Fuck! She must be the Crown Princess, the little bride was always so timid and snobbish she never really developed her powers. Unless she has in this life, you idiot. She's not a spoiled daughter to a materialistic prince in this life.* He shook his head to clear it but before he was able to she blasted him again and again, taking no mercy, not thinking about her next battle. Just her anger that he dared to attempt to hurt those that she loved. The battle was over quickly, he exploded into dust within a few minutes.

When it was over she took a deep breath and with her mind awakened the other man and brought him into the plane for battle. But she wasn't prepared for the blast that he greeted her with. It knocked her to the ground. *Apparently he's not a talker like his friend was.* Ava thought briefly before rising and throwing a blast back.

Their battle continued on and on, seeming to never end, neither gaining the upper hand for longer than a moment. They were tiring. At that moment their eyes met.

Two warriors gazed at each other, their tired souls in their eyes. And they knew. Neither would exit this place alive.

They gathered together the last of their strength, which made the plane disappear as well as the shield, and shot a bolt at each other, a mortal blow. The other man disintegrated, his body nothing more than a shell to begin with. But Ava fell to the ground, her body gasping for breath and for purchase to remain in this world. Not to leave until connected with Tess, her duplicate.

"Tess," Ava cried weakly. "You have to hurry."

Max and Tess were the first to reach her side. Max began to place his hand over Ava's stomach where the damage was worse.

"Ava, looked at me," he said as tears began to run down his face. "You have to look at me."

"Max, I can't," she answered. "If I do, I'll never have the energy to connect with Tess. It's too late for me. Tess, please connect with me. Take our memories."