Like I mentioned in my summary, this is a rather bizarre little story.  If you don't fully understand it, don't worry, my head works strangely sometimes!  If you've read my other work, you may recognize the theme of Greek mythology and that sort of thing.  In my fic "Save Tonight," I allude to something along those lines, and since then I've been wanting to expand on this idea.  It basically involves a weird combination of alien and mythological cultures, but primarily focuses on Kyle and Tess shippiness!

            This whole thing's rather light and fanciful, just a fun little thing that shouldn't take long to read.  After you do read it though, I'd really appreciate any feedback you can offer. A review doesn't have to be long or insightful, it just should let me know how you feel about the story.  Whether you like it or not, I'd love hear your opinions. 

            I didn't have an exact time period in my mind when I wrote this. I guess it's somewhere mid-second season, since Tess is living at the Valenti's, but she isn't…well…"evil."

            Remember (as if you could forget!) that I don't own the show Roswell. It belongs to Jason Katims and company.


            One Kyle Valenti was bored. So bored he began to think his head was on the verge of exploding.  For the very first, and only, time, he started wishing he really did have alien powers to amuse himself with during this interminable class.  He swore he wasn't exaggerating when he later said his teacher's voice had literally descended to a low, undecipherable drone.  It was surprising too, considering that History wasn't always so bad.  English was typically the epitome of boredom, especially since it was the last period of the day, and algebra was never fun.  Chemistry was occasionally inspiring when they were able to conduct labs, particularly since he had somehow ended up being partners with Sherri, a bombshell of a cheerleader who actually was pretty sharp at science, and had managed to secure him a solid B- for the semester.

            But History, History shouldn't have been all that bad.  His favorite distraction was a certain bouncy blonde who sat diagonally across from him two rows up.  But today he was deprived of that one pleasure, seeing as how Tess had chosen to remain home.  He had whined like a seven year old when his dad had informed of this, and had put forward the perfectly valid argument that aliens did not get sick.  But then he had been effectively proved wrong when a bleary eyed, angry looking female martian had stumbled into the kitchen, approached the refrigerator door, and scribbled down one word on the bottom of the grocery list.  Tampons.  Though that, coupled with an evil glare from Tess, had succeeded in silencing Kyle, he had still been grumpy all day, and this class, combined with her absence, was not helping.

            Only one thing could have made this teenage boy's mind snap back to attention and that was, naturally, sex.  As soon as Mr. Warner uttered this word, Kyle, along with, he noticed, several of his classmates, jerked his head back from the window and stared at his teacher in surprise. 

            Mr. Warner, pleased with the renewed interest of his students, continued in much the same vein for the rest of class.  Kyle was intrigued.  Who knew ancient Greece could be such an interesting study?  'Enough with the city-states,' he groaned inwardly as his teacher segued into a brief political tangent, 'Get back to the good stuff!'

            He listened attentively as his teacher described in delicious detail the various exploits carried out by the members of the Greek pantheon.  Childish giggles erupted when he explained the tale in which Hephaestus had laid a trap for his wife, Aphrodite, and her lover, Ares.  The appeal of the story escalated when Mr. Warner went on to describe the crowd of onlookers who had mocked the guilty couple after they had been caught red-handed.

            Kyle had chuckled then at a lewd comment whispered to him by one of his football buddies.  Still, nothing could distract him when Mr. Warner began to discuss the various affairs the gods and goddesses had held with mortals.  Even Zeus, the highest of them all, had repeatedly rejected his true wife to "slum around on earth," as Mr. Warner had described it, in a futile attempt to seem 'hip'.  Instantly, Max's face popped into Kyle's brain, and he could barely stop himself from laughing out loud.  But when he had sobered a little and really thought about it, it was kind of eerie how perfect the metaphor was.

            Gradually he felt his focus begin to slip away once more as a flood of images filled his mind.  A crazy slew of mixed pictures swirled in front of his eyes…

            A cerulean orb, with its moons floating in lazy orbits and its atmosphere hazy, suddenly began to meld with a cloudy paradise set atop a snowy peak.  Reclining figures, who seemed almost larger than life, stretched across heaps of silk cushions, summoning their goblets of nectar without the help of a servant.  With the wave of a hand and perhaps a brief flash of glowing white, the gleaming cup would appear in their grasp, every drop in place despite having been tugged across the room by an invisible surge of energy.

            They were clothed in iridescent robes, so light-weight that the surrounding stars shone through the material to reveal the sensual shapes of their bodies.  At a glance, these robes seemed cream-colored, but the next moment they would appear silver, and the next a midnight blue, depending on where they sat and how they moved in relation to the shadows.

            The setting was a startling juxtaposition of blinding light and velvet darkness.  Marble columns gleamed a golden-ivory beneath the abnormally large sun.  In places, this stone was set against a strange, unearthly metal, silver and smooth, curving seamlessly into both oval structures and flat plains.  It too shone in the sunlight, but even in the darkness it seemed to radiate a phosphorescent glow. 

            The  figures began to come into focus, but just as Kyle thought he saw a flash of golden hair, his daydream was violently interrupted.

            "Mr. Valenti!" Kyle awoke to his teacher standing over his desk, a disapproving glare upon his face. "Please, do as your other classmates are doing, and pay attention! Like I was just explaining, this material will be covered on your midterm exam. I suggest you start taking some notes now."

            All Kyle could do was nod dumbly, adjusting some papers on his desk to give the impression of compliance.  The last thing he could do now, even if had wanted to, was to listen to one of Mr. Warner's lectures.  His head was still spinning from the sights he had imagined.  They had been more clear and real that any fantasy or daydream he had ever had before. 

            He glanced at the clock. Block scheduling dictated that they still had fifty minutes left in class.  He shut his eyes briefly, in an unsuccessful attempt to jolt himself back to reality. 

            Sighing, Kyle came to the realization that all he wanted to do was get back to that place…"Mt. Antar" or the "Olympus Planet" or whatever the hell it was.  It had fascinated him, drawn him into its beauty and ethereal nature, dwarfing him with its majesty.  Normally, he tried to shut out of his brain all things alien, but this time he was hooked, and all he could think was that he hoped he could find his way back. He was beginning to be afraid that it was like a good dream that you woke up from and kept trying to have again, but never could. 

            He took a few deep breaths and relaxed his posture in true Buddhist fashion.  Just as all his meditation instruction books had taught him, he tried to clear his mind of anything but the memory of the dream.  Focusing intently, he almost instantly felt himself tumbling back into his fantasy.  But the vivid color and eerie lighting that surrounded him made Kyle feel like he had actually entered an alternate plane of life, rather than simply recessing back into his own imagination.

            He caught his breath and gazed about him, his eyes seeking the mysterious figures he had seen before.  Finally, after scanning the horizon frantically, they seemed almost to materialize before him, the beings, that is, the…gods.  At first, it appeared as though there were many seated across the grand, open-aired hall, some lying down, others situated upon various chairs or thrones.  But these remained blurry to Kyle, and when he had blinked again there were only four.

            Their faces did not surprise him…No, indeed he would have been surprised to find anyone else there.  Dark haired and bare-chested, Max's divine counterpart was covered only by the loose material draped around his legs.  He blinked at the space that Kyle occupied and gazed straight through him, apparently quite oblivious to his presence, as he continued to casually pop into his mouth a variety of ripe fruit from a bronze platter by his left hand.  Beside him reclined Isabel, who appeared little different in this world, naturally, since she had always resembled a goddess.  Her hair swept even farther down her back, however, and her countenance was regal and cool, perfectly suiting that of a deity.  She seemed absorbed in nothing in particular other than staring up into the sky, and, seemingly, contemplating the vastness of the cosmos they inhabited. 

            Michael looked to Kyle to be the most changed.  His hair was longer, but it was braided into a circlet around the top of his head.  Now normally Kyle would have guffawed at such a style, but it certainly was anything but feminine on Michael's body.  He was tanner and more muscular than he had been on earth and, like Max, wore nothing but an unrestricting robe that resembled a toga.  His amber eyes flashed brighter that ever, and his face possessed a near-arrogant confidence befitting his divine status.

            None of these three looked twice at Kyle, and it seemed to the human boy that he must be quite invisible to them.  So when a small hand brushed his arm, he was understandably disturbed and even stumbled back a step or two.  How could a touch feel so real in this 'dream-world'?  He had almost expected to face his teacher or one of his classmates, shaking him awake once more, but nothing had prepared him for the vision standing next to him, gazing up at him expectantly.

            He supposed he had seen her at first, but she had been mostly blocked from view by the bodies of Max and Isabel.  But now she was so close to him that he could easily touch her, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. 

            Tess. It was her, changed, but unchanged, perhaps a form of herself that had always been there, lurking beneath the surface.  Like her companions, she wore a toga of translucent fabric.  Two pieces made up her robe, leaving her midsection bare.  The top portion of the material barely contained her cleavage, and was tied together by nothing but a knot under her chest.  Her skirt, too, was made as a wrap-around, gathering at the side of her hip.  Pale legs emerged through the resulting slits, and she wore no sandals.

            He was fully aware that all he was doing was staring at her, but it shouldn't matter, he reasoned.  This is his own fantasy after all, he needn't be concerned with manners or polite behavior. She wasn't real.

            Her hair was longer, like the others' had been. Instead of ringlets her blonde locks flowed down in front of her shoulders in soft waves, curling under gently when they reached a spot just above her waist.  Set atop her head was a leafy crown of ivy, a brilliant forest green against the pale gold of her mane. Her face was clear and smooth, and though her lips were a deep red and her cheeks were flushed a becoming pink, she clearly wore no cosmetics.

            Overall, her entire aura had been altered.  Coy was the first word that occurred to Kyle when he attempted to name her attitude, and the next was seductive.  She was still radiantly confident, but this confidence had been combined with a level of shyness that Kyle had never seen in Tess before, and he guessed that it was simply a mask with which to lure him in.

            Her skin shimmered as if she had been bathed in some type of oil, and a faint light seemed to outline her body, giving her an air of supernatural esteem.  He wouldn't have been taken aback if her feet had floated above the ground in little clouds, but they were planted firmly on the earth…or whatever planet they were on.

            Kyle wasn't sure how long they stood there.  It was his world, after all, so as soon as Tess had shown up, everyone else had sort of faded off into the background.  The absence of the others' movements and idle speech left the two in resounding silence.  Far away, Kyle thought he could hear the faint scratching of chalk on blackboard and the whispers of flipped notebook papers.  But the moment Tess saw his eyes move elsewhere, she grabbed his wrist, and he was hers once again. 

            If he had thought they were alone before, there must have been in utter isolation now.  The imposing architecture that had once threatened to swallow up Kyle's relatively tiny form now seemed to shift so that instead all the splendor of the foreign planet moved to frame the couple in their solitude.  Trapped in a ring of landscape that was at once beautiful and terrible, and enclosed from above by a thousand twinkling galaxies, Kyle had eyes only for the maiden before him. Her touch had lit his skin aglow, and not just metaphorically.  Metallic ribbons of energy danced behind her fingertips as she traced Kyle's arm.  Her tawny skin reflected the flickering stars above them, and before he could even think to stop himself, Kyle's knuckles were grazing the side of her cheek.

            He hadn't expected the sparks.  They shot out in mini-explosions of color each place his skin had met hers.  He jerked his hand back, scared that he had hurt her, but she just smiled and guided him to her lips.   Kyle shivered as the embers of the previous sparks tickled his mouth, and new ones flamed to life beside them.  It was an entirely new sensation: her soft lips were sugar-sweet, honey-flavored, but the sparks tingled his mouth, adding a dose of spice to the already soul-stirring kiss.

            Her scent overpowered his senses, a tantalizing blend of vanilla and wildflower.  He felt like he could kiss her forever, without needing to go any further.  He couldn't understand how it felt so good…he was fairly certain he had never imagined anything like this before, even in all his fantasies of the Tess on his earth.  Before he could further contemplate the wonders of dream-kissing, however, his attentions were distracted by something his hand brushed across in her hair. 

            Peering over her shoulder, he saw that it was a flower.  Not just one, but many, twisted together, a chain beginning at her ivy circlet and sailing down her back to her feet.  Further examination revealed the unusual nature of the flowers.  Bright and vibrant, they grew in sharper colors than most Kyle had seen on Earth.  They seemed to be pulsing on their own accord, growing and changing by the second, so that even as Kyle watched, the chain had elongated and spread across the grassy knoll they stood upon. The petals themselves rotated and turned over separately, as if each was an entity unto itself. 

            As he stooped to pick one off the ground, he chuckled inwardly, thankful this was his own private dream, because if anyone else had seen Kyle Valenti, jock extraordinaire, bending down to smell a flower, they might well have killed themselves laughing. But that's just what he did.  And the scent was hers.  It wasn't a plant…it was like an extension of her body, encapsulated in a single bud.

            She smiled knowingly, and from his lower vantage point, he was reminded once more that she was more goddess than girl, for her eyes were old, though her body was young. 

            And as odd as it seemed, this reminded him of his Tess even more.  He often caught her in such a position, staring off into the distance, the faint remnants of a smile on her face.  Like she was remembering something that no one else was privy too, that no one else understood yet.  

            He started to wonder what right he had to touch this being like he did.  Why would anyone in her position allow him so much as a forward glance? But then he came back to his senses, and remind himself that this wasn't real, that he was making everything up as he went along, that this wasn't really Tess, his Tess at least.

            It was funny, Kyle considered, that all he wanted to do was hold her.  Here he was, a red-blooded teenage boy, fully caught up in one of his own fantasies about a girl he secretly adored, a girl who, at the moment, resembled a being straight out of ancient Greek mythology, and all he wanted to do was touch her hair.  And maybe steal or kiss or two.

            Speaking seemed out of the question.  Besides the normal fear that his voice may unwittingly carry into reality, where he would be reprimanded once more by his teacher, to Kyle it just didn't seem…right.  In class, he had heard of the dangers of approaching the close vicinity of a goddess, and though he had not yet met the fate of the poor soul who had come across a bathing Diana, to mix his voice into the tension of this alternate-universe seemed to be tempting fate a little too fully.

            And so they stood. Face to face. Close enough so that they could breathe the same air, but far enough apart so that they were not in complete physical contact.  A touch of the hair.  A kiss on the cheek.  A mutual brush of the lips.  Tess would initiate their more intimate embraces, a tickle down the neck, perhaps, or the tracing of an earlobe.  Kyle would reciprocate hesitantly, but with no less passion. 

            Suddenly, her face turned, worry painted on her features.  She turned back to him slowly, her mouth forming a small smile. She took his hands in her own once more, and Kyle knew it was good-bye.  For some twisted reason that he could not understand, Tess, rather than himself, was signaling the end of his dream. 

            She placed her lips to his once more, then drew away in the opposite direction.  With every backwards step she took, a cloudy haze slipped in between their figures, blocking her from his view until all he could see from all sides was the fog.  He threw his glance upwards, and after catching sight of the brilliant cluster of stars overhead, was tossed unceremoniously back into reality.

            With a gasp he jerked his head off its resting place on his desk.  The room was dark…class had clearly been dismissed already.  A pink note fluttered to the ground when he stretched his arms.  He reached down to grab it off the floor, and read with a groan, "Mr. Valenti.  Detention.  4:30.  Every day this week."

            He stumbled, still groggy, into the hallway where a group of his fellow athletes stood, in a huddle of sorts, chuckling to themselves about who-knows-what.  One of them, a dark-haired running-back named Drew called out to Kyle.

             "Hey Valenti! Nice stunt in History.  You had Warner up the wall."

            Sauntering over to his friend, Kyle questioned, "What happened in there? I was kinda out of it."

             "Yeah, no kidding.  He stood next to you for about five minutes, waiting for you to notice him, and when you didn't wake up he tried shaking you, but you didn't move.  It was hilarious, man.  We all started cracking up, and finally he just told us to shut up and leave you alone…that he'd deal with you after class."

            Kyle chuckled good-naturedly, and with a final wave to his friends, headed to room 502 to serve his sentence.


            It was 6:00, and Kyle was finally home.  An hour of scraping gum off the undersides of the gym bleachers had firmly dispatched any lingering feelings of calm or pleasure his mid-afternoon fantasy had left with him.  Now he was just pissed. 

            He hurled his backpack down in the middle of the hallway and stalked towards the kitchen.  The refrigerator door slammed against the wall as he flung it open angrily, before grabbing a Coke, and popping the top with the finesse of an experienced drinker.

            He shut his eyes as he chugged the soda, rubbing his aching temple with his other hand. 


            The light voice greeted him cheerfully.  'Well, someone got her Midol,' Kyle thought bitterly of the bubbly girl in front of him.  This was not the face of someone who had to stay home from school.  Part of him resented the fact that she had had a day off, but the rest of him just felt plain awkward.  He hoped her 'powers' didn't extend to out-and-out mind-reading, or else he was screwed.  Desperately trying to shut out all images of her in that see-through fabric, kissing him on a faraway planet, he muttered something about needing to do some homework, and began to retreat to his bedroom.

            Her parting question stopped him cold. "How was History class? Did I miss anything?"

            Did he detect a dose of…playfulness? Had he imagined that teasing lilt? 'No, Kyle, you've had a long day.  Just keep walking…'

            Though he had technically given over his bedroom to Tess, they had worked out a system in which she did her schoolwork at the dining room table, and he stayed in his own room until she felt like going to sleep.

            Upon entering his room, he headed straight to his stereo and turned up the Metallica CD he'd borrowed from Michael.  'Now this is relaxation,' he thought with content, as he reclined himself back onto his bed.

            Seconds later he leaned up, puzzled, having lain down on something odd.  Turning around, he came face to face with…a flower? Not just any flower, but one with turning, glowing petals. 

            It winked up at him from the pillow, taunting him, sending his heart to his throat in confusion.

            The only coherent thought he could string together was…What the hell? 'Okay, Kyle, deep cleansing breaths…'

            Her figure in the doorway scared him half to death, and he leaped off his bed at the sight of it.  "You! What did you- How did you- What…?"

            "Oh come on, Kyle, it was just a little fun.  I know how boring History block can be."

            "You mean…it was you?? But how? I thought-but then, I…I thought only Isabel could do…stuff like that!"

            "Kyle, it wasn't exactly a dream-walk.  I mean, you weren't asleep.  I was just…making you see those things.  I had nothing to do…I was just lying on the couch watching stupid human soap operas, and so…I decided to take a look at what you were doing."

            "You're a psychic now??"

            "No! It wasn't like I could read your mind…I just got these vague pictures, images, that were in your head, about what you were hearing in class.  I could sort of…sense what you were feeling."

            Okay, now he was mad.  "So you just thought, 'Hey, I know. I already took over his room and went through all his stuff, but now I'm bored.  How 'bout I invade Kyle's privacy as much as I possibly can and go into his freakin' mind?"

            "Please, Kyle, you don't have to get like that.  It's not like I do it all the time or something.  This is practically the first time…"


            "Kyle! Just shut up about it okay?"  The harsh tone that Tess had taken threw him off momentarily.

            "Oh, I'm sorry! Forgive me if I'm a little freaked out to hear that an alien just played with my head and made me see things that I thought I had imagined myself!"

            Her voice grew soft, and Kyle reddened. "You thought you had imagined me like that?"

            "What? Well, I mean, yeah…What else was I supposed to think?"

            "So you liked it?"


            "Did you enjoy it? The fantasy?" Okay, now she sounded positively husky.

            By this point, Tess' face was inches away from his own and visions of previous attempts at "lamp-trimming" popped into his head.

            What could he say? Of course, he enjoyed it. He had loved it. It had been incredible.  But, but, it was the principle of the thing!

            He must have looked like a deer in a headlight because her smile grew into a grin, and she closed the distance between them, pressing her lips onto his own.

            Once more he became overwhelmed in the sensation.  It was just like before, all the feelings were there, her mouth was just as sweet. 

            He leaned back for a moment and smiled at her kiss-swollen lips, "So, in the dream, was that like a picture of you? Or was it really you?"

            "What do you think, Buddha-boy?"

            "I think I need to conduct some-uh-further experimentation before I make my final decision…"

            Soon the room sat in silence, other than the occasional gasp or giggle.  After a few long minutes, one voice broke the quiet, "So, do you really have an outfit like that?"

            "I'm an alien, Kyle. I can have whatever kind of outfit I want. The whole molecular structure thing…"

            "Hmm, well, in that case, I think there's some, uh,  History homework I'm gonna need your help on..."

            "Whatever you say, Kyle."

            The End


            Thanks for reading! Reviews are very much appreciated.  Please, it only takes a minute or so to leave some meaningful feedback. Thanks again!