The group stood in the great room at Javier’s house. He was about to tell them all about the struggle that they had become a part of. Then, he had vanished. In mid-sentence. It was like he had just flipped out of existence, like changing a channel on a TV, or being a part of a magic act.

MAX: Maybe what he said about being teleported back to his home planet was true. He was about to tell us who the enemy was. Maybe that was the time for his people to come get him.

ISABEL: Yeah, but Max, if that’s true, then…

MICHAEL: We don’t have much time. They could be down on us at any instant.

LIZ: But if they could just teleport back and forth, they would have done it already. As soon as Javier knew who you were, they would have sent more than just him.

MARIA: Well, then, what did happen to him?

ALEX: Maybe he was killed.

MARIA: Killed? Alex, no one was here, no one touched him.

ISABEL: Alex is right. It’s a good possibility.

MARIA: What, now people can just vanish from existence in front of our eyes…there had to be another explanation for this.

TESS: Who knows what they can do?

MICHAEL: We can’t take any chances. We have to be ready for anything.

TESS: Yes, we have to assume that he was whisked away, and that he could be telling everyone back on his planet the truth about the four of us. What do we do about that?

MAX: Well, we can’t just leave. It’s not like they wouldn’t find us wherever we went. We don’t know what any of them are going to do next. There’s not a whole lot we can do to prepare.

MICHAEL: We have to do something.

MAX: Michael, what?

MICHAEL: I don’t know. But we just can’t sit around and wait for them to send an army to annihilate us.

ISABEL: What choice do we have?

ALEX: None… I don’t like this one bit.

TESS: We have to talk to Nasedo again, make him tell us more about what we’re up against.

LIZ: What makes you think he’ll know anything?

MAX: We don’t know what he knows. I guess I can try to give him a call later. For now, we better all get out of here. Let’s get the orbs back, see if we can find anything else of value. But we need to get out of here in a hurry. If we can’t find anything in the next ten minutes, we’ll just leave.

The group agreed. Everyone quickly split up, and ransacked the place. Knowing that Javier most likely wasn’t coming back, at least not anytime soon, discretion was not used in searching. They were able to recover the orbs, which were in plain sight in the kitchen, but not much else. Whatever he was, Javier traveled pretty light. All of this furniture and stuff were just that. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

MAX: Well…we all better get back. Milton will be wondering where I am, and the rest of you I’m sure have things to do. We’ll all get together tonight, talk this through some more, decide what to do.

Everyone took off right after that. No one wanted to hang around. No one knew what was going to happen next, especially if they just stayed right where something more unnatural than they have ever seen before had just occurred. The group had been through a lot in the past year, but having someone vanish in front of your eyes was still a real eye-opener. As much as they liked to think that nothing could shock them anymore, at least Max was stunned. The past few days had been a real revelation for him. He had heard, even believed the destiny that had been foretold for him in the orbs’ message from his mother. Mother, how weird to even say that. After a lifetime of not knowing his real mother even existed, to see an image of her, and to have her task him with a mission of saving a whole planet still overwhelmed him. And then there was Tess. No matter what his mother had said, he hadn’t really believed that him and Tess could ever be together. He was with Liz, and that was the end of it. Liz was his destiny. But then, he had had that flash. It was more vivid than anything he had ever experienced. He had visions before, lots of times. They had never caused him to blank out like he did the day before. He had always thought that the visions that he had before were intense, but they held nothing to seeing his planet in ruins, and his love for his wife.

His wife. A lot to handle at 17, but today for the first time he really felt like he had lived before. He remembered how he had felt that day back home, and how Tess was the most important thing in the galaxy to him. It was not something he could just forget. But he wasn’t there anymore, had never really been there. He had a right to his life, to the life of Max Evans, and Max Evans was destined to be with Liz Parker. It was just as strong. At least that was what he had been telling himself since that day. When Liz had asked him about what had happened, he had lied to her. He didn’t want to tell her the truth. He just wanted to be back with her, if only because he knew that she was the only one who could make the uncertainty about his future go away, at least for a little while.

Max and Liz had their own destiny, their own visions. Without her, he would have never discovered the orbs in the first place. Exactly. How could two women both be his destiny at the same time? They couldn’t. Tess was from his last life, but that didn’t mean anything now. He had to rededicate himself to do anything he could to convince Liz that their destinies were one, and he had to do it soon, before his chances would be over forever.

SCENE 2

Max went back to work, and Milton was unhappy. Max was able to tell him that he had an emergency, and he was sorry for not calling him, but it was kind of sudden thing. Milton forgave him, but said that he was going to dock his pay, and he would have to take an extra shift. Max, not really paying attention, said fine. After he got off work at 8, he decided to go over to the Crashdown. He walked in and sat down. Maria saw him and walked over.

MARIA: Hey Max.

MAX: Hey. Have you seen Liz anywhere?

MARIA: Well, she’s not working tonight. I think she’s upstairs though.

MAX: Thanks.

Max walked though the back of the restaurant, and up the staircase to the back entrance of the Parker’s apartment. He knocked on the door.

MRS. PARKER: Hello.

MAX: Yes, Mrs. Parker, is Liz around?

MRS. PARKER: Let me get her for you…I think that’s she’s here.

A few moments later, Liz walked out of her room and towards the door.

LIZ: Hey.

MAX: Hey…Can we talk…go somewhere, maybe?

LIZ: Sure, OK.

Max and Liz set out walking the streets around the center of town.

MAX: So…

LIZ: So…what’s up, Max?

MAX: I wanted to talk to you about what happened the other night, you know, at Javier’s house.

LIZ: Yeah, what was that?

MAX: Well, you were right, I had a vision.

LIZ: Why didn’t you tell me?

MAX: Because I knew that you would worry, and I knew…

LIZ: Knew what?

MAX: That you wouldn’t like what it was.

LIZ: You were with her…weren’t you?

MAX: Yeah…but it wasn’t like that…I was back on my planet, defending it. The town that I was in was getting overwhelmed. It was…so intense.

LIZ: Intense how?

MAX: Well, it was like I could feel all of the people around me, all of them scared, frightened.

LIZ: What about Tess?

MAX: Tess and I were together in the resistance. But it wasn’t what you’re thinking, I swear.

LIZ: How do you know what I was thinking?

MAX: Ever since the day that we used the orbs, I see you. Thinking that I’ll fall in with Tess just because of what happened in our previous lives. Can’t you see that it doesn’t matter what happened before? We can stop whatever is out there without having to be together. And I don’t want to be with her, not at all. I want to be with you. We have our own destiny, our own path. When I saved you, I had visions every bit as powerful as I did yesterday, and you have seen inside me before too. Why do you think that you have seen visions too? Why have we seen visions together? Because you and I are meant to be. I need you to see that. That despite all of this stuff surrounding the whole group, you are the most important thing to me. I would give up all of this in a second for you, if it would make you see that.

Liz thought on these words for a few moments, and tears came to her eyes. She always had trouble understanding that someone could say things like this, about her. Even Max. He had become so much more confident in the past year, since that day at the Crashdown. She had grown to love him so much. She couldn’t even imagine him saying something like this six months ago. The first time had been when he was drunk, that night that she had gone out on that radio station date. Slowly, he had become the person who stood before her now, the leader of his people. How weird to say that, too. He had a mission, which, she had to keep reminding herself, didn’t include her. But after hearing him so vulnerable, laying himself out on the line emotionally like this again and again, for her, she didn’t know what to do. She froze.

She realized that if she stood here for one second longer, all of the resistance she had built up to him, to this, in the past few weeks would just disintegrate away. She just couldn’t let that happen. He had to know that this was for his own good too.

LIZ: I’m sorry, Max, but this isn’t right.

She then turned from him, and ran, ran as fast as her legs could carry her back to her apartment.

MAX: Liz…wait, please…come back to me, Liz, I love you.