Unbreakable - A Beautiful Lie · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

ONE ONE THREE

I had not forgotten the darkness. It devoured every attempt at light, suffocated it. It felt like it not only absorbed physical light, but also emotional.

The first time I had seen it was at the meeting in Hondo. The meeting that had gone horribly wrong and ended with Max and I being violently separated. The blackness had surrounded him. Like a pitch black cavity around the contours of his body, where no light could survive. Where all hope and happiness were ruthlessly extinguished.

The second - and last - time I had experienced his bottomless darkness had been in the room that had served as my cell while the aliens had held me captive. He had lifted my body off the ground and plastered me against a wall without laying a single finger on me.

It would be impossible to fully describe the magnitude of my fear as I now looked around the corner of that white wall and registered that his blackness had not become any lighter, nor had it diminished. Rather, it had grown, spreading out around him like long tentacles with the appearance similar to thick, black oil.

The fear that struck my heart, that made it beat slower for a moment as the thick ice cold terror rapidly nestled itself into the muscle tissue, was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Originating from the beating center of my body, the cold tumbled and roared along every nerve in my body, moving into every cell, like a horrible, unexpected tsunami.

I only looked for a second before Max pulled me back, but it was enough to experience the blackness inhabited by the most powerful alien to walk my planet. It was enough to spot the entourage of aliens following him.

That second was enough time to see him kill.

Even though there was no way to know if Command had been responsible for the unsuspected man at the other side of the corridor dropping dead in an instant - since Command had been nowhere close to the man - my gut told me the most probable truth.

Command had simply looked at the man and he had died.

My throat constricted and I found myself without air right around the time Max pulled me back.

Max's eyes caught mine and they told me... nothing. His eyes were blank.

But his mind told me plenty. Remember, he can control your mind, your organs. He can make your lungs stop breathing and your heart stop beating. So yes, he'll kill you with a look. Easily.

The fear was too much. I swayed. How the hell had the resistance ever believed that they had an inkling of a shot at conquering Command? How had they ever believed that Max and I would conquer him?!

We're dead, my mind stated as matter-of-factly as if it had been carved into stone.

In the midst of my fear, I felt stupid. How could I had been so stupid to think that we ever had a chance?! How did I ever let anyone talk me into this?

But we can block him, Max told me then, keeping my eyes locked with his. His emotionless, hard eyes. He had gone into survival mode. Into fight mode. We have to.

I looked at Isabel. Isabel, who now seemed more vulnerable than me despite her being an alien while I was a defenseless human being. Obviously it didn't matter that you were an alien, since the man I had just seen Command kill had been an alien.

Never look the mayor in the eyes, Max told me then and a memory of the red-haired mayor flashed before my inner eye. Max had told me the same thing at the meeting.

My eyes were trained on Isabel, who was scanning her surroundings - perhaps looking for a way out - while my mind asked Max, Why?

Because he can do what Command can do, as long as he has eye contact. Max paused, making me look back at him. His eyes softened with fear, his pupils so large they nearly obliterated the beautiful amber of his irises. And the mayor has a bad streak of cat-like behavior.