FanFic - Max/Liz
"Epiphanies 2: The Anasazi Road"
Part 20
by Carol
Disclaimer: I would be the happiest woman on Earth if I owned any of these people, but sadly, only Josh, the Holbrooks, and Paul Hernandez are mine.
Summary: This is the sequel to EPIPHANIES 1: The Ties That Bind. It picks up the evening of the Evans barbeque that ended the first story. Here, Max and Liz must come to terms with a shocking revelation about Liz and her Grandma Claudia. They search the past among Native American ruins and history to find the truth and each other.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG-13
Authors Note: I have done extensive research on the Anasazi for this fic. Most of what you will read is either factual or widely accepted speculation. I have, on occasion, filled in a gap or made an assumption that suits my purposes. The alien connection, of course, is my own Roswell-loving imagination.
Max and Liz had been exploring the Cliff Palace for a couple of hours. They were a little discouraged, but didn't know how else to go about their search other than this trial and error approach.

"I thought Grandma would come last night," mused Liz. "Why do you suppose she didn't?"

"I guess there's nothing more to tell us right now. The ball is sort of in our court. She's only guessing this thing is hidden here, so she can't very well give us clues to its location."

"I guess. You know, Max, maybe we should be spending more time looking at the kivas. They are underground, after all, so it might make a good hiding place."

"That's as good a reason as any, I guess," shrugged Max. They stood from a raised vantage point and surveyed the pattern of kivas below. With perfectly synchronous movements, they both turned and pointed at a large kiva to the west. They looked at each other with surprise.

"I just felt it," said Liz, amazed.

"So did I," confirmed Max. As they approached the kiva, Max took Liz's hand. Immediately, they stopped in their tracks, sensing something.

"Max?" Liz whispered nervously. "I feel something."

"Yeah. Me, too."

"Coming from the kiva," she whispered, holding Max's hand tighter.

"Well? I guess we should check it out, right?"

They slowly resumed their walk toward the kiva. Max climbed down the ladder and then watched as Liz followed him down. The feeling was growing stronger. Having just descended from the bright Colorado sunshine, the partial roof remaining from the original structure and the shadow cast by the walls themselves made details of the room hard to see at first. As their eyes adjusted, they peered around the circular room.

"Let's walk around the room in opposite directions and see if we can tell where it's coming from," suggested Max.

He released Liz's hand and they felt an immediate drop in the intensity of the sensation they'd had. Max reached for Liz's hand again. The intensity jumped. Their connection was clearly a key to sensing this thing--whatever it was.

"Okay, let's walk together." Liz and Max made their way slowly around the room. At the far end, opposite the ladder they had used, they both stopped. "Here," Max said. They each began to pass their free hands over the surface of the wall in long, sweeping arcs. Suddenly Max felt Liz jump and inhale sharply.

"What? Liz, what is it?" Liz was wide-eyed, her mouth still forming the "oh" that had escaped her lips.

"Max, look." She slowly passed her hand over a spot in the wall and a glowing handprint appeared. Max found himself gaping at her. He never really doubted Grandma Claudia's vision, but this was the first overt proof he'd seen that Liz had really awakened certain powers. He nodded slightly, encouraging her to put her hand against it.

Liz was shaking as her hand moved toward the glowing rock. "Will it hurt?" she asked timidly.

"No, it's a warm, tingly sensation, that's all," assured Max.

Liz brought her hand against the handprint and pressed. She felt a slight tingling, but nothing happened. She looked at Max questioningly. He wasn't sure what to do. It had never failed to work before. "Try again," he suggested. She moved her hand back and started over, but the rock was still resistant.

"They said we had to do this together, right?" Liz reminded him. Max took his free hand and placed it over Liz's. Immediately, their hands began to disappear through an opening that seemed to bend around their forms. Keeping hold of Liz's hand, Max stepped through the rock. It seemed to expand to accommodate his form and he pulled Liz through after him.

"Oh my God, Max," gasped Liz as they looked around the large chamber. "What is this?"

Max was speechless. His eyes wandered over the array of control panels, monitors, and high-tech equipment. Clearly, this had served as a command center at one time, and not for the Anasazi. They had obviously just stumbled across the most clear-cut proof in history that aliens were present on Earth 1000 years ago.

"Take a look, Liz. We are seeing part of our history. This must be where the original visitors kept contact with other ships or each other or even Voya. Look at this stuff! It would be cutting edge today!"

Their eyes met, asking the same questions. Liz finally verbalized what was on both their minds. "Max! Do you think the visor is in here?"

"Probably. We may as well start looking."

They began to open compartments and look inside crates, but there didn't seem to be many hiding places.

"Maybe there is another compartment hidden in the rock face somewhere, you know, like the doorway into this room," Max suggested. Holding hands to maximize their chances of discovering another handprint, they painstakingly made their way around the room. Nothing.

"Paul will be looking for us to go back to camp for lunch," Liz reminded Max. "We should get back. We can come back later."

Max reluctantly agreed, and together they found the opening once again. Max stepped through, holding on to Liz's hand. In the next instant, he heard Liz scream and he lost his hold on her hand. His own momentum carried him through into the kiva.

"Liz! Liz!" Max pounded against the rock. Think logically, Evans, he told himself. He passed his hand over the wall and found the glowing handprint, but like Liz, he could not seem to open it alone. A panic more terrible than anything he had ever felt in his life overtook him. He felt no connection with her, no sense of her at all. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Liiiiiizzzzzz!" he cried out, fear blocking out all thought. The only response was a deafening silence.

Part 19 | Index | Part 21
Max/Liz | Michael/Maria | Alex/Isabel | UC Couples | Valenti | Other | Poetry | Crossovers | AfterHours
Crashdown is maintained by and . Design by Goldenboy.
Copyright © 1999-2004 Web Media Entertainment.
No infringement intended.