Note: I am posting the prologue and the first chapter. I plan to update this once a day until I get to the last chapter and the epilogue. Those will also be posted together. This is a revamped version of a fanfic I wrote and posted here when I first joined ffdotnet in 1998-1999. I've come full circle with this story.
Enjoy the ride!
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Map of a Dream
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Prologue
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A monument to glory. That is what they called the statue.
The sculpture depicted an Andalite warrior standing at attention. White stone, chiseled expertly by a talented sculptor. It was larger than life-sized and stood on a squat pedestal in the center of a small, artificial pond.
Behind it, the main space port bustled with activity.
Any second now, I'll have to leave. But not right this minute.
Ripples formed on the pond when I dipped a hoof in to drink. I peered at the statue's face with my stalk eyes. The sculptor had talent. He'd gotten the warrior's intense expression exactly right.
A second reflection appeared on the pond's surface.
Another female.
She stared at me.
{It's you,} she exclaimed. {I just heard those other guys talking about you.}
I kept my face composed.
Before I could answer, the female gestured to the statue. {Did you know him?}
I looked up again. Studied the familiar face. I ached with what could have been. If things turned out differently, would my life still lead me to this moment?
{Yes.} I said. {I owe everything I am to him.}
The girl turned her head. Her eyes scrutinized me. Measured my reaction.
{Oh, I get it.} She said nonchalantly. {You have relatives in high places. That's how you got here, isn't it?}
I laughed. I couldn't help it. {No.}
{Then how?}
That question reached a bittersweet nerve somewhere between my hearts. Did she know what it cost to get where I was? Did she know what almost happened to our planet? Did she know what it meant to truly love someone with all of her being? Did she know what it meant to lose that person? To piece together a life shattered?
Not now, she didn't.
But I would change that.
I looked over at her before I started to talk.
She was the age I had been. So young, so pretty, her fur the same dark shade of violet seen during sunset. She regarded me with her brownish-green main eyes. I saw my own childhood all over her face.
She wanted what I wanted. Her spirit burned with the same fervor.
And I finally understood what he saw in me.
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