This is a Rachel/Tobias piece using the livejournal "fifty themes; one sentence each" prompt challenge. I used the Alpha theme set provided by dev_chieftain.

The sentences are stand-alone but hopefully there is a kind of flow between them. I followed cannon. The title is from the Of Monsters and Men song because that particular song really inspired me when I was writing this.

This my first fanfic, so please enjoy and I love reviews!


Little Talks

"There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back

Well tell her that I miss our little talks

Soon it will all be over, buried with our past

We used to play outside when we were young

And full of life and full of love" (Of Monsters and Men, "Little Talks")

"I want love to walk right up and bite me

Grab ahold of me and fight me" (Jack White, "Love Interruption")


Waves: The only thing that kept Tobias from losing his mind with terror as the waves enveloped him was his desire to keep her safe.

Wind: As the wind carried the red-tailed hawk and the golden eagle up towards the sun, they carried each other away from the memories of that day's battle.

Clouds: Sometimes they argued sarcastically over whether the clouds were shaped like hearts or arrows.

Rain: They held each other, huddled up under her covers, so close that their bodies could have melded into one, as the rain tapped against her bedroom window and Tobias had to force himself to care how long he had left in human morph.

Market: ((No, Marco, I don't think a girl-on-bird sex tape would get us millions over the internet!))

Hands: Her deadly grizzly bear paw demorphed into a fragile, useless human hand and Rachel needed Tobias to hold that hand to keep her soul anchored to humanity.

Chocolate: The taste of chocolate on her lips made him remember the simple joys of being human.

Melody: The more awkwardly Tobias tried to move his arms and legs to the music, the wider Rachel smiled at how hard he was trying for her.

Sky: When he released her ashes into the sky, he felt the biggest part of his heart fly away with her and knew that the sky would be both of their final resting places.

Heaven: If there was a Heaven, Tobias knew she was there, still kicking ass and taking names.

Hell: This was where he wanted Jake to go for sending Rachel after Tom, despite the pain he saw in Jake's eyes.

Touch: Neither one of them felt touchable after eating road kill or demorphing from some hideous half-human hybrid, but they always found each other in the darkness.

Lightening/Thunder: She loved storms because she knew it meant he would be coming to her window, even if they didn't say a word all night.

Sensual: The sensation of skin on skin, lips on lips and feeling the heat between their bodies was almost too much for them to bear.

Confusion: "How can we make time for each other when every waking moment is fighting and chaos and sacrifice?"

Technology: She wanted to make him a MySpace profile with a picture of a red-tailed hawk, but he just laughed and kissed her.

Bonds: The others didn't need to ask why he chose to remain a hawk when the war was over and she was gone.

Potatoes: "You know, Rachel, you don't really appreciate large fries and a Coke 'til you've had large mouse and rat."

Moon: He could almost feel the glow of the moonlight reflecting off of her blonde hair on those first nights when he paused at her bedroom window, too afraid at first to tap.

Weakness: She knew her greatest weakness as a warrior was her willingness to walk through fire, scrap any mission, put the rest of the group at greater risk, just to save him from a single scratch.

Completion: After the first time they made love, Tobias remembered thinking that if the Yeerks blew up Earth right then and there, he was good to go.

Freedom: He always wished he could have told her for sure before he lost her that the freedom of the skies was second-place to a life with her.

Comfort: It was a small comfort, knowing how much she would have loved "The Rachel," and the whole crazy, dangerous rescue mission.

Taste: Rachel wondered to herself so many times if she could still be "Xena: Warrior Princess" and long for a boy's kisses.

Sex: She wondered if there was a different word for what they were doing, since they were both such strange creatures, not quite meant for the rules of this world.

Sickness: Tobias felt the pangs of hunger in his hawk gut, and the pangs of guilt in his human heart knowing she was bringing him food without him even having to ask.

Devotion: She would never feel about a "normal" boy the way she felt about him.

Pain: Tobias was the only one who ever knew how little of Rachel's wounds were actually healed by demorphing.

Sun: How could he not see her face in the sunrise; bright and beautiful and brazenly announcing its presence to the whole world?

Soft: Her touch was gentle as she cleaned blood from his feathers after a rough mission.

Star: Tobias didn't understand how a girl who could easily have been a fashion model ended up spending most of her time with a bird-human-Andalite-whatever-he-was.

Kiss: All it took was one and they were suddenly invincible.

Happiness: Rachel loved it when his normally lost eyes would light up, like he knew the punchline and the rest of the world didn't even know the joke.

Jealousy: He wanted to swoop down and do some damage whenever his sharp hawk eyes caught some idiot looking her up and down like she was a piece of meat.

Tears: Tobias would morph to human at her gravesite, just so he could cry for her.

Telephone: Rachel was always glad they didn't have to have long phone conversations about what had happened in school that day…not really her thing.

Innocence: He didn't want to tell her, but he often wondered if he could live a human life anymore, knowing what he knew, surrounded by kids whose worst problems were zits and homework.

Hair: "Do you think I could pull off being a brunette, maybe change things up a little?"

Supernova: "Rachel, I have a feeling you could dye your hair the ugliest color in the world and it would still shine."

Fear: "I can't lose you, Tobias."

Gift: "You know I'll always be here for you."

Blood: He never judged her, even when her lust for battle became obvious and disturbing, most of all to her.

Speed: Rachel moved like lightening whenever she saw an enemy get close enough to harm him.

Forever: People who've long ago accepted that their next day could be their last don't talk about being together forever, because forever doesn't exist anymore…

Life: …but they do live and love and fly in the moment so intensely that every second tells its own story.

Death: Rachel saw her life with Tobias, their home, their kids, saw so much that wasn't meant to be except in their hearts before she moved on from this world.

Ears: Hearing his voice kept her sane on days when she was certain she had left her soul behind in battle.

Name: "Human, hawk…just labels that aren't deep enough to tell anyone who you really are."

Home: Not a meadow, not a house…each other's arms.

Smile: Rachel was the only person Tobias had ever met whose smile could be self-mocking and sexy and dangerous and sad all at once.