So I was driving into work this morning when an idea came to me for another story. So I'm taking a temporary (one to two day) hiatus from "Not Fade Away" in order to get this one down. It's a short, three chapter deal so enjoy!
Oh, setting. Again, I'm disregarding the whole "The One" section of book 54. Everything else stands as is.
The usual copyright BS. I don't own Animorphs and I ain't makin any money off this.
~The Last Ronin~
The smell of smoke wakes me from the oddest dream. I sit up slowly and stretch, finding I've been asleep next to a small campfire that has been warming my back. Next to it, just beyond my reach, sits a familiar figure, poking at the flames with a stick.
"Tobias," I smile, looking around. I'm in a forest but I don't see any of our huts. Where is this?
"Tobias?" I say again, getting a little nervous about these unfamiliar surroundings and the fact that he's not answering me.
I scoot a little closer to him and gasp.
"Oh! I'm sorry," I scramble backwards and push myself to my feet. He's not my boyfriend at all. But who is he then?
I look a bit closer and the man finally looks in my direction, a small smile on his lips. No he's definitely not Tobias...his hair is far to dark and the color of his eyes is wrong. But as I continue to examine his face I start to see some of my boyfriend's features in it: his nose, the shape of his eyes, the unruly hair.
"Hello Rachel," the man says at last and even his voice contains familiar notes that I would know anywhere. But he's clearly not the boy I love.
"Who are you?" I ask, more than a little nervous now, as if my mind has already figured out the answer but hasn't decided to let me in on the secret yet.
"Hmm," he pauses for a minute, thinking, "perhaps this will help."
I blink and the man is gone. Standing in his place is Ax, eyes smiling. What the? How did he morph so fast? I look again though and no, no it's not Ax after all. This Andalite is old...er. There's an audible click as my mind finally reveals what it had already discovered. An older looking Ax. A man who reminds me of Tobias.
"Elfangor," I swallow heavily. If he's here then that means...it all comes crashing back, and my legs give out, dumping me to the ground.
"Nonono," I sob, tears pouring from my eyes. I can't be. I wasn't ready.
But it is. I am.
I remember it all.
In a flash Elfangor, human again, is behind me, his arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me together as I fall apart.
"Shhhh," he soothes, rocking me back and forth like my own father used to do to comfort me when I was younger, "It's ok, it's ok."
But it's not. It never will be.
I cry for a long time, held safe in the arms of the man responsible for changing my life. The man whose intervention turned me into a warrior who was doomed to die at barely sixteen years of age.
I hate him for what he did to us, to me. And yet, I love him just as fiercely. Because of him I'd found myself. Because of him I'd found my best friend, my soul mate. But I wasn't ready to die. I never even had a chance to live. It wasn't fair.
But life isn't fair. That one fact had been hammered home for me in the final three years of my life. That which is given can be taken away. That which was won with blood, sweat and tears can be just as easily lost in the same.
Oh God, Tobias, help me...I, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe! I hyperventilate, trying desperately to draw air into lungs that seem to have vanished. It's as if someone has ripped me in half and scattered my insides. Oh God, oh God, where is the rest of me? Where is the rest of me? !
For a long time my boyfriend's lost father holds me, till I cry myself out and even then he doesn't let go.
"I've been waiting for you," he says at last, his breath tickling my ear.
"You knew then," it's not a question really; I already know the answer, but I want to hear it from him anyway, "that night at the construction site, you knew I would die."
"Yes," he admits and I can hear the sorrow in his voice, "I knew I was killing you when I gave you the power to morph. And I know it's not an apology, but I had no better options."
"Why? Why me? Why us?"
"Because it couldn't have been anyone else. Everything that happened, happened so you could be on the Blade ship at that exact moment. It may be of little consolation but because of you, because you were there to kill the Yeerk infesting your cousin, billions of lives have been saved.
"I did what I did because my son needed you and you needed him. All so you could be prepared, could be ready for when you were truly needed. And you were. You did well Rachel, Warrior Princess," I can hear the smile in his voice as he says that and I can't help but smile slightly myself.
He gets up and moves to sit in front of me and then leans in to place a kiss on my forehead; exactly like my father when I'd done well during my gymnastics classes.
"Thank you," he whispers, tears in his eyes as he holds my own and hugs me again, "thank you for saving my brother, my wife...my son."
I bow my head, tears spilling down my cheeks once more. I'd never been a crier before but I suppose I have good reason now. I shiver and hug myself. I appreciate Elfangor being here for me, but it's not his arms I want holding me.
"What happens now?" I ask at last.
"Now I ask that you let me make a selfish request," he sighs.
"And what is that?" I ask guardedly, I don't like the sound of his voice. Haven't I already done...sacrificed...enough?
"My son is dying..." I'm on my feet before he can continue.
"Then that means he'll be here soon!" I suppose I should feel bad about this but I can't hide the joy I feel. Tobias and I are going to be together again!
"Rachel," Elfangor draws me back down, "It's not his time. There is much for him to do yet. I need you to convince him to live."
There's no anger in his voice. No judgment over my outburst. I can't believe I, even for a moment, was happy to hear the person I love more than my own life was dying. I'm a horrible person.
"I look forward to seeing my family again too," Elfangor smiles at me, as if he suspects where my thoughts had taken me, "but we need to be patient."
"I, yes, I'm sorry," I fumble, almost to embarrassed to speak, "of course I'll help. What do I need to do?"
It doesn't take Elfangor long to explain. The only real problem is that we can't do anything right this second. The sad truth is that we're both dead, and thus have a very limited ability to interact with the living. We're only going to have a small window in which to do this. But we have to wait. That's ok though, there's much for me to explore over here and a lot to learn.
Eventually though, the time arrives and I'm waiting eagerly. This is going to be painful, I already know that. But if it means I get to say the goodbye I never had the chance to then it'll be worth it.
I begin doing as Elfangor showed me when he arrives himself and motions for me to wait.
"Just one thing I want you to remember Rachel," he says when I give him a puzzled look.
"What's that?"
"It's not goodbye."