A/N: 1) )Thoughtspeak(
2) Not sure if the title still applies or if it ever did…
Revelations
Jake's POV:
)Okay Toby. Okay, I'll be right there. Tell them what Marco said and I'll get there soon to back you up.(
I looked around at the remaining four of them.
Damn, four.
It would've been five. Rachel would have been standing here, across from me, wearing a cocky grin identical to my own.
Cassie was next to me. We weren't demorphed, I wasn't squeezing her hand and I wasn't kissing her. We weren't we anymore; couldn't be because she would never look at me the same.
It would have been the six of us celebrating our victory. This would have been a happy moment. It should have been a happy moment.
"How many Animorphs were there when you started?"
"Six."
"And now?"
"Still six. Yeah, I didn't get anyone killed."
"Well, that's the first thing to do you know: Don't get anyone killed."
I ran the figures over in my head again…And again and again a million times over: Seventeen thousand yeerks…The hork-bajir warriors…James and his crew…Countless nameless faces in the past three years…Tom…Seventeen thousand and one…only five of us.
Orange fur melted into skin-tanned from the days at the valley, but much paler now. All of it, everything since day one bubbled in my stomach and threatened to release. Hot acidic liquid filled my throat but I swallowed- too late in the game for that.
Just as the last tooth shrank, just as I got to my feet, a fist connected with my jaw. A weak hit, but caught off guard, it was enough to make me stagger backwards. A follow-up of full body force slammed me into the computer consol. My head banged against metal and then…and then nothing. I looked up at Tobias. I saw the rage in his face. I saw the huge hairy arm holding him back. Gorilla eyes regarded me cautiously, but I had no intention of retaliation. It didn't matter that he'd struck me in front of the enemy. I wanted Marco to let go.
"This is so…this is so messed up Jake. I thought…I thought….this is so messed up man." Tobias was having trouble breathing due to a combination of exertion, being upset, and the meaty limb resting on his chest. My head and jaw hurt. They felt bruised but nothing was broken, nothing was bleeding except for Tobias' knuckles.
It wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough when my mind screamed for absolution in the form of a beating.
)I imagine it's time to kill me.( The Visser: as narcissistic as always. He babbled on. I was amazed. His life's work had just come to and end and all he had to say was: 'I imagine it's time to kill me'. It made our fight for freedom seem trivial.
I responded: "No. No more killing." Now imagine how Tobias took that. "He's a prisoner of war. We don't kill prisoners."
)No, of course not…( The Visser babbled some more. 'Blah blah blah, you're a hypocrite.' But I was somewhere else. I back at that moment:
)-Don't be blaming yourself, okay?(
)Look I'll make you a bet.(
)You've never won one against me in the entire time that I've known you.(
)Yeah I know, all that time at the racetrack…that's my point…twenty bucks…(
I snapped back suddenly. Less than ten minutes since we won, and already the flashbacks were starting…
I handed out orders and left the bridge…left to find Toby…it wasn't so bad…we won.
And I was twenty dollars richer.
A/N The Sequel: That last little flashback was made up (except for the first line).