Ax & Tobias Alpha Set (1sentence)

Sentences are in approximate chronological order. Also, I am well aware that tenses and POVs are all over the place. I don't really have an excuse for that, except that the sentences are largely separate.

Warnings: Rated T for one implication of Marco looking up… very scantily clad females.

Unbetaed.

Waves. In the dreams there's always a voice calling for help; then, somehow, the voice is his and he thrashes his wings (or are they hooves?) and plunges through space and water, waiting for impact.

Wind. When the skies are clear, there seems no greater bliss than showing his new friend (a friend he still can't believe he has, sometimes) how to ride the best thermals up to dizzying heights and forget the world below.

Clouds. Always they're welcomed back by bad news – the Yeerks' new schemes, with urgency darkening the horizon - and they'll look at each other and wish the dream hadn't ended, and settle in once again to the humming tension in the barn.

Rain. Then Jake's captured, and their whole reality blurs, like rain through a window; the first day without Ax seems to be viewed through a fog or mist, and Tobias suffers a sleepless night worrying about both of them and hoping the Andalite doesn't blow his cover.

Market. "Yeah, Ax, shopping might be necessary, but it's a cruel human punishment - wait, don't tell Rachel I said that, or she'll never speak to me again."

Hands. After seeing the weird, creepy alternate reality the Ellimist had shown us – myself as charcoal chicken and the only two people I cared about gone – I felt better about preparing for battle than I had in weeks: at least our fates were back in our hands, so to speak.

Chocolate. They're what the world would call freaks and outcasts, but they complement one another, in their strange way, as perfectly as chocolate and cinnamon.

Melody. I thought I was above watching soap operas, but by my third visit to Ax's scoop I found myself humming the theme song to The Young and the Restless.

Sky. [Your atmosphere is not half as beautiful or lustrous as ours is, although your birds are far superior,] Ax said, with a 'smile' in his eyes; call me vain, but I couldn't help preening at that.

Heaven. It became a sort of morning ritual to read a chapter each day, just as the sun rose.

Touch. [Tobias, if you do not stop flapping and wriggling, this will not work; we have little enough of Marco's flea-repelling powder as it is, and certainly not enough to pay for almost losing our lives to that dust monster.]

Lightning/Thunder. [Don't storms interfere with the Chee's holograms?] I asked, then regretted it as Ax launched into an explanation a physics professor would have had trouble following, concluding with a rant against "archaic, misguided human science".

Sensual. Both of them enjoyed the beautiful Hork-Bajir valley: Ax savoured the lush greenery that reminded him of home, and Tobias, always the dreamer, would imagine flying over the purple-blue mountains.

Confusion. [I must look like a drunk,] said Tobias, laughing, as we lurched and stumbled towards the wondrous place called a 'food court'; I winced as he dug into my shoulder with unaccustomed human fingers, almost overbalancing me.

Technology. [I did not think Andalites were capable of such treachery,] I admitted; with his usual calm insight, Tobias replied, [Mostly people are jerks because they're afraid and angry - superior technology doesn't make Andalites immune, Ax-man.]

Bonds. I fought the instinctive revulsion, trying to understand why Cassie would willingly bind herself to a Yeerk; life might be precious, as Tobias had said, but I had thought humans valued liberty above all else.

Potatoes. [Good grief, these gull eyes are pathetic - I see three french fries, four Skittles, and a rotten egg sandwich, but no hotel… and by the way, I will never tease you again about eating in human morph.]

Moon. I raced towards Rachel's home, to tell her what David had done; but what use were the moon or the bright human lights, what use was a harrier's speed, when Tobias was lying dead, and I had failed to protect him?

Weakness. I'd kind of been avoiding Ax so I wouldn't have to tell him about Elfangor, but of course he was too shrewd not to suspect something.

Completion. [There must be a missing link here, the note must be a forgery: Elfangor could not have borne a human child,] I said numbly, even as Tobias began to explain his experience with Aria.

Freedom. I wanted to shake off Tobias' piercing yellow gaze and run till I was light-years away, under a red-gold sky and two luminous moons, eating varicoloured grass with my brother.

Comfort. [I had gleaned hints of your childhood from the others, but I did not know humans would treat a child almost as a vecol... I hope I am a far better relative to you than they were, Tobias.]

Taste. "Thing is, Ax," Marco said with a smirk, "Birdboy here knows his Star Wars backwards, but it takes a true TV buff to appreciate a good soap."

Sex. [Marco, do you investigate female anatomy because you are unaware of human reproductive methods?] Ax wondered; Tobias snickered and began to explain the dark corners of the Internet, with what I felt was excessive smugness.

Sickness. Sometimes it's a kafit bird hovering over Ax in his delirium, other times a winged nightmare of shadow and flesh; in lucid moments he sees the golden eyes of a red-tail.

Devotion. As crappy as it was not to have a real family, at least I got to do my own thing; I guess it's not easy growing up in someone else's shadow, because Ax has always had this idea that he can never measure up to Elfangor.

Pain. [I know you want revenge, Ax-man, but there was a reason I let her go; just because somebody hurts other people doesn't mean they deserve to die – no, not even a Yeerk,] I said, anticipating his response.

Sun. The light broke on Ax dipping his right hoof into the water; I hesitated, then flew down to join him and began to morph Andalite.

Soft. [You've grown soft, Aximili,] I scolded myself: I had not done these training exercises for nearly three Earth years, since my first days as an aristh, and Tobias' strikes were quick enough almost to put me off balance.

Star. [You asked me some of my rituals: when off-world we always look at the home star before we sleep, so that we may dream of soft grass and sweet water.]

Kiss. [C'mon, Ax-man, don't be so hard on yourself, you weren't exactly thinking straight - and anyway, if we win this war we'll have to convince a few more Andalite scientists that humans aren't just fodder for actual experiments.]

Happiness. For a long time after Tobias hears about Ax's capture and infestation, even the meagre happiness of flying feels illicit; the only true satisfaction he gains is from fighting the Yeerks. (#41!verse)

Jealousy. "Listen, you feathered idiot, I did not 'steal your best friend' - now quit sulking and come play Nintendo with us, because Ax will not shut up about your little outburst back there: he thinks he's offended you somehow."

Tears. [I merely refined the human forms by adding tails and stalk eyes; I do not understand why Marco grew agitated and told me to "never touch his Sims again",] I protested, while Tobias laughed until tears ran down his face.

Telephone. I chimed in, surprising myself: [I know you guys are mad at Ax – I'm pretty hacked off too - but this is the whole reason he phoned the Andalite command: if the Animorphs can't even get along anymore, we might not have a fighting chance.] (This and the next two are set during #53).

Innocence. [Thank you for standing up for me earlier – regardless of the quarantine, I was also guilty of allowing emotion to cloud my judgement,] Ax said, lowering his eye stalks.

Hair. [Yeah, don't mention it, Ax-man,] I muttered, then added dryly, [Uh, I guess it's my turn to give you an unschweet.]

Supernova. Tobias's wings were puffed up to twice their normal size and his tail feathers stood up in all directions; his thought speech was distant when he asked, [Ax, why do I have to hear from Jake that you almost blew up our entire state?]

Fear. I cannot think how else to comfort him, with Rachel dead and Loren gone: I listen and talk, but he replies haltingly or is silent - I fear he will plunge from a branch one night and not wake. (post-war, mid-#54)

Gift. After Rachel's death, Ax offered me a place aboard the Intrepid.

Blood. Ax might forget me once we reached the Andalite homeworld - like Loren, who'd already vanished into her own life, like Elfangor who left before I was born - and then I'd be a boy-turned-hawk on an alien planet, a disgrace to my own family, tolerated only because I was Ax's nephew.

Speed. I steered the ship as slowly as possible, delaying our ascent into orbit so I could catch one last glimpse of the bright blue planet I now called a second home, the world that held my shorm.

Forever. No matter what light-years separate them, the ties between shorms do not break.

Life. After Ax leaves, Tobias surrenders himself once again to the hawk's mind, circling, killing and sleeping: life without conscious thought has never felt so blissful.

Death. "You know what, Birdboy – you can mope, preen your feathers and ignore me all you want, but he was your best friend and your uncle; I'm going to find him, or die trying."

Ears. After I got over my resentment at Marco, I realised he was right, because at the very least I owed Ax an apology: after Rachel died I zoned out, went full-on hawk for weeks, and in those moments when my human self returned to haunt me, I'd refused to listen when Ax tried to talk.

(FFN won't let me link to the LJ discussion that prompted this, but basically felinephoenix and I were talking about how Ax might've left partly because Tobias spaced out. This is my small attempt to give both of them reasons for acting as they did.)

Name. I was addressed respectfully by Andalite warriors as "War Prince" and "Captain" and spoken of in hushed tones as "Aximili of Earth"; this only made me long for Tobias' casual greeting of "How's it going, Ax-man?"

Home. Your roots have grown, little one, sighed Naca, twining her leaves around me; I pressed my forehead to the white bark and sank into the garibah's sense of home, trying to forget our last battle and my abrupt parting with Tobias.

Hell. They drift in space for months, but never find any signs of the Andalite; Tobias can only imagine what Ax's parents must be enduring. (AU for #54 The Beginning).

Smile. I tried to erase that vile red mouth from my memory; whatever this bastard had done to Ax, I was going to kill him.