Where is Thchi? Where is that vile snake? Where is the dark evil that conquered the Xaralites, that is even now trying to conquer me?
Has she conquered me? Of course she has. I'm a prisoner, a captive. The very words fill me with a scream. Not me. Not Xilite.
My thoughts drift to Ax. Back on Earth. Free.
It was worth my sacrifice. Worth this captivity. Worth what I fear in the future – slavery. It was worth it for him.
He loved me. The idea startled me and brought a smile to my expressionless face. He had told me that he loved me, told me at the very end.
I have never loved anyone in that way. I have been loved, yes, but I have never loved in return.
I stare around this strange, void cell yet again. The last of the Xaralites. I laugh bitterly. I, captain of the fleet that lost to the Andalites, trapped.
And in love with one of the race I lost to.
What has happened to me? What have I done? I have shamed the Xaralites – first by failing them and watching them be conquered, then by...by my thoughts toward Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil, and now by this.
In love with one of the race they lost to, slave to one of the powers they lost to.
I, Xilite. Arrogance personified. Lost.
Not only having lost, but even yet lost.
Where do I go now? What can I do? All hope is extinguished within me. My dreams are a crushed wreck. My memories weigh me down, memories of my friends, my race tainted by the guilt of failure.
I was the captain. The fault is mine.
What can I do?
I am lost. I see no light in the future, no hope. The despair begins to fill me.
Xilite.
What is that voice? Reality? Memory?
I love you. And I'll miss you so much...
I sag. Memory, that is all.
Suddenly I feel, rather than see or hear, the abominable snake behind me. I turn, steeling my face against expression.
She says nothing for once, only stares at me, hoping to find some way to break this silence, to use me, to make me into her tool.
I say nothing. I have not spoken to her since it happened.
Perhaps a proof of weakness. Perhaps a proof of strength.
My Xaralite eyes meet her gold ones. I cannot see anything inside them. But I know that she cannot see anything within mine.
*You cannot remain in silence forever.*
Oh, but Thchi, I can. I can remain silent and never acknowledge you. Never acknowledge that I have lost to you again. I can remain silent forever.
I say nothing as the thoughts whirl through my head. Her eyes narrow to tiny slits in her immense form.
I love you.
His words ring through my head again. I smile. And with that smile comes a single ray of hope.
I am not truly defeated. Perhaps in the physical sense. But I will fight, and as long as I can do that, I will have hope. I will not be defeated.
And he still loves me.
We will never be defeated.