Jan 31, 2009 21:54
Always With You Part Three by Watcher Tara
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Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Roswell.
Summary: Max and Kyle have to team up to save Liz from an unexpected threat. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang returns to Marathon, Texas looking for answers and finds more than they anticipated.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: PG
It was decided then that no one from the tribe was to have anything to do with the mysterious stranger. Riverdog, the only one who had actually met him protested loudly. He insisted that the man wasn’t hurting anyone, and had in fact saved him once when he fell into a ravine.
Now, several weeks later, Chief Moon Gazer had tested the man by inviting him to join in a sacred sweat to purge the evil spirits from him. Shortly after entering the tent, Riverdog saw him leaving again. He looked ill. His father was still in the lodge, but Riverdog knew he would be angry if he went after the stranger. Straightening his shoulders manfully, he accepted that there would be consequences for his actions and went out into the desert after his friend.
The man entered into a cave that was on the outskirts of the reservation land. He apparently couldn’t see the entrance, and had to feel along the wall for the opening. Riverdog was astonished he had found his way at all if his sight was that poor. When his friend disappeared inside, he tiptoed to the rocky entrance. The man’s breathing had changed from rapid to slow… very slow. In fact, he was barely breathing at all.
“Mister…?” Riverdog called out softly. “Mister, are you ok?”
“Riverdog?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Can I come in?”
“Riverdog… come here. I need you.”
‘What could the man need him for?’ he wondered. The boy cautiously ducked into the interior of the cave. “Mister, where are you?”
“Put out your left hand. To the side, not straight ahead.” The man whispered. When he obeyed, he felt the wall cold against his palm. “Now, feel along the wall toward the back of the cave.” It was pitch black in the cave with no fire burning and the sun’s light unable to penetrate very far into its recesses. With the wall as a guide, Riverdog walked slowly away from the exit. He could hear the man’s quiet breathing to his right.
“Where am I going?” he asked.
“Go to the back of the cave. Quickly. There is little time.” The man’s voice was so soft; he had to strain to hear. “Feel for the crack in the wall.”
Stumbling over the uneven ground, Riverdog quickly followed the directions. The wall zigged and zagged, but he was easily able to follow it. Deep within the cave, he finally came across a wide crack in the wall. It was about an inch wide. “Mister.” His excited voice rang out loudly in the silence. Softer, he repeated, “Mister, I found it.”
“Good. There is… there’s a bag tucked into the base of the crack. Get it… and bring it… here to me.” The alien was focusing all of his energies on holding back the rising blackness. He knew that if he lost consciousness right now that he might never regain it. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but whatever it was, it was serious.
Riverdog retrieved the bag. It was slightly heavy with several circular objects pressing against the cloth. Without knowing where he was in the cave, the boy simply followed the wall back the way he came, moving much quicker than before.
“Mister?” he whispered, needing to hear the voice of his friend.
“I’m over here.” The man whispered.
Leaving the wall, for the first time since entering the cave, the young Indian slowly moved in the direction of the soft voice. “Mister, what’s wrong?”
“Riverdog…” It was just a thread of sound. “I’m sick. I need your help.”
“What can I do?” he whispered back.
“Could be dangerous. Sure?”
“It doesn’t matter. What can I do for you?”
“Take a stone from the bag. Hold it in your hand.”
Without knowing how it would help, the boy reached into the bag and drew from it a small, smooth stone. “Ok, now what?”
“Just hold it. You will see…” His voice trailed away.
“Mister? Mister?” Riverdog was afraid for his friend, and he didn’t see how sitting there, doing nothing but holding a rock was going to help him. “Mister… I don’t understand.” He reached out with his other hand to shake the man’s shoulder. His fingers encountered something that wasn’t skin nor fabric. With a gasp, he yanked his hand back. ‘What was that,’ he wondered. There was something strange happening here and he started to be afraid for the first time since entering the cave.
His stomach began to feel strange… like he was going to be sick, but not. He couldn’t describe the sensation. His hands were shaking from the inside. “Mister, we’ve got to get out of here. Something isn’t right…” Riverdog told his friend. He reached again for his arm. Just before he touched it, something amazing began to happen. The rock he was holding in his left hand was beginning to glow. The light started out very faint, but grew brighter and brighter with the passing seconds. He looked from it to where he could now make out the form of the man. With another gasp, Riverdog dropped the stone on the ground. The light winked out in an instant.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. Surely, his friend wasn’t covered in a large cocoon. He felt around for the stone. Holding it again, he concentrated into the darkness where the man lay. In less than a minute, the stone was glowing brightly, illuminating the small cave. Riverdog was unable to tear his fascinated eyes away from the man.
The alien lay on the cold, hard ground completely encased in a cocoon. He barely appeared to breathe. Time stood still inside the cave. Outside, the sun set and the stars came out and began their trek across the sky. As the Indian watched him, his chest began to slowly glow with the same brightness as the stone. Eventually the healing glow spread to the man’s head and through the rest of his body.
After an eternity, it was over. The stone’s light dimmed, and the man sat up and brushed away the cocoon covering him. Riverdog barely kept from squealing like a girl as he backed away in fright. Blackness again claimed the interior of the cave. He could barely hear the man get to his feet over the sound of his own breath sawing in and out.
“Riverdog,” the man said. “Do not fear me. I mean you no harm.” Suddenly a bright light illuminated the interior of the cave again. This time the source of light was the man himself. He held his cupped hands before him and there was a beautiful blue light emanating from his palms.
“What are you?”
“I am a stranger to this land. I come from a far away place.”
“You truly are nasedo?” Riverdog breathed in awe.
“Nasedo?” the man asked.
“In my language, it means ‘visitor’.”
“Yes, I guess you could say that.” He paused then continued, “Riverdog, you saved my life. If you hadn’t come after me, I would never have left this cave again. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Curiosity was brimming inside him, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Where are you from?”
Nasedo looked at the boy who had saved him, and said, “I can’t tell you, I’m sorry. There are others who are depending on me. It must remain a secret.”
Riverdog simply nodded. He wanted to tell his friend that he could be trusted with the secret, but felt that perhaps, in time, the man would see that for himself. He looked down at his hands, and remembered the stone. “What happened to you? What was wrong?”
“Let me light a fire, and I’ll tell you what I can.”
Nasedo turned to his fire pit, and with his powers soon had a fire crackling. They sat down, facing each other, on opposite sides of the flames. He told Riverdog that the stone carried the same energy source that was inside his body. Somehow, the heat and smoke from the sweat disrupted the natural balance of his systems and they began to shut down. When Riverdog used the stone, his energy activated its healing elements, and it restored him. The teenager eagerly absorbed this information.
“What did you mean when you said it could be dangerous?”
“No human has ever used the Stones before. I didn’t know if your body would have a reaction to the healing. In restoring the balance to my body, it was possible that you could upset the balance of yours.” He looked at Riverdog and asked, “Are you feeling ok?” The boy nodded.
After a few minutes of silence following his retelling of what happened, Nasedo said, “It’s getting late. You should probably get on home.”
They stood, and Riverdog returned the stone to the bag, and handed it to his friend. “Thanks” he said.
“For what?” Nasedo asked.
“For trusting me with your secret. I promise I won’t tell anyone what happened here tonight. Ever.”
The alien held out his hand, “I know. You are a good friend, Riverdog.”
“And you,” the lad said as they shared a handshake, “Nasedo.”
Riverdog walked slowly back to the reservation. It was fully dark, and he knew his father would be angry with him. Somehow, though it didn’t seem to matter. He felt as if he had changed in some intangible way. He didn’t feel like the same boy that he was when we had awakened that morning. It was as if, somehow, participating in the healing had changed him in some intangible way.
He felt like a man now. A man with knowledge and responsibilities. He knew it was up to him to shield the alien from outsiders, and possibly from his tribe as well. He had entered into a world of lies and secrets, but he accepted that. He would sacrifice much to protect Nasedo.
Their friendship strengthened over the next year. Riverdog did his best to squelch the rumors that he knew the other members of the tribe were spreading about Nasedo. For his part, the stranger came to the village at regular intervals to help allay the suspicions about him. Riverdog was always glad when he showed up outside his family’s lodge.
Everything changed the day the battered RV pulled into the village. The man who had driven it had introduced himself as Jim Atherton. He said that he was in the village to write a book on their tribal customs and ceremonies. With his arrival, Nasedo stopped coming to visit the tribe. This meant that Riverdog had to go meet him in the desert when he wanted to see his friend.
Nasedo had made him promise to never come to his cave as long as the man remained in the village. They usually met out by the river. After a few months, Nasedo stopped meeting him when he said he would. Riverdog didn’t understand why his friend seemed to be pulling away from him, but he kept his promise. He never went to the cave looking for him. On the days that Nasedo didn’t show up, he would swim for a while in the river, and then head back to the reservation.
One day unexpectedly, Nasedo appeared in the village. Riverdog’s people were genuinely glad to see him as he’d been gone for many months. After saying hello to everyone who came up to greet him, including Riverdog, Nasedo walked over to where Atherton was standing.
Riverdog was shocked to hear him say, “Hello, Jim.” When had they met, the lad wondered.
“Hello, Nasedo. Are you all recovered from yesterday?”
Riverdog asked, “What happened yesterday?”
He listened as Nasedo explained how he’d fallen out by the river when some ground gave way underneath him. Then he held something out to Atherton, and said, “I am in your debt. Living alone in the desert, you take the chance of something like that happening. I could have been crow bait before someone wandered down that stretch of river.”
Riverdog stared at the offering in his friend’s hand, and felt a deep hurt. He had saved his life that day in the cave, and Nasedo had given him nothing but his thanks. This man helped him with a sore ankle, and he got something? He suddenly felt as if his friend was betraying him in someway.
He barely heard Atherton say, “I did nothing. You would have been just fine on your own.”
“Even so, I feel I owe you. Please take this.” He again offered the small parcel.
Atherton took the offering and unwrapped it. Riverdog leaned over to look at it. It was a beautiful necklace. He knew that it was important to his friend, and he couldn’t understand why Nasedo would just give something as valuable as this to this stranger. It was hard for him to hide his hurt.
“I can’t take this.”
“I’ll be highly offended if you don’t. You see how the bottom portion is missing?” He pointed to the one flaw on the necklace.
“Yes.”
Nasedo opened his other hand to show what was in his palm. . “I have the other piece. This will symbolize my debt to you.” Riverdog could hardly believe what he was hearing. He tuned out the rest of the conversation, and stood there passively. He was on the verge of walking away when Nasedo finished his conversation with the other man and looked down at him to ask, “So, where’s your father today?” The two of them walked off a short way together.
“Nasedo, why did you give that man your necklace?”
“I have my reasons, Riverdog. Don’t ask me about them. At least not today. When he is gone from here for good, I might tell you. Just remember - not everything is as it appears.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that appearances can be deceiving. Look at me, for example. On the surface, I’m just your average Joe American, right. We both know that inside I’m anything but.”
Riverdog nodded. “So you think that Atherton is hiding something?”
“Maybe. A guy like me can’t be too careful, you know.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
awy,
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