Charmed Life
[A/N: This is another lil' character monologue, from Taylor's POV. Warning. Warning. This fic contains spoilers for #33 The Illusion. You have been warned. Anyway, I finally came up with a title for this series of character monologues: Character Sketches. If you can think of anything better, please comment.]
My . . . . her . . . . our name is Taylor. And Sub-Visser Fifty-One.
Do you know who we are, Andalite? Do you know? Do you know?
I had everything! Everything, do you hear me? We had everything! She was queen, and the world was my . . . . our palace!
We were second, only to Visser Three, in this quadrant of space! Second!
We laugh dryly, as we look into the mirror.
Her life was like a fairy tale, where everything goes your way. Like a dream. A charmed life.
Charmed life, indeed, Taylor, Sub-Visser Fifty-One. Yes, that's the right term for us. Everything is sweet, perfect, like the memories. Everything. Everything, Andalite! Do you hear me?
You know what we were before, Andalite? What she was, what I was?
Queen of an empty world of broken promises. Empress of the court of shallow words. Princess of a court of weak and petty people.
And now, now, now we are the queen again. We have her beauty. My body, whole, repaired.
I had it all! And then it was gone. My people betrayed me.
Left me, because my beauty was gone, my face was . . . .
All that, the life where I ruled? Gone, in a few seconds, melted down in the flames of a fire.
We hated them. She could have killed them. But we . . . I . . . . she wasn't the type. She wasn't looking for their deaths. I didn't want revenge. We wanted to be what we had once been. Pretty. Whole. Ruler of the school.
I needed it, Mommy. We needed, it, so badly. She needed to be looked at by others, without that recoil, that cringe at the touch of my hand.
So, we did it. She made a deal with the devil, as we . . . . the humans say. I gave up her freedom, just so I could get myself back. My body, face, whole again! So she did it. For the sake of those sweet, perfect memories.
We're sorry, Mommy. She didn't mean it to hurt you. You understand that, don't you, Mommy?
I mean, we could see the pity, in even your eyes. Our own mother.
So, she went ahead with the bargain. Had a Controller wheel me down the ramp to the Yeerk Pool.
She received me. And then instantly went into surgery. The procedures were finished, within five to six hours.
Of course, the prosthesis's were already prepared for us.
Can you imagine what it was like? The first time, when those memories soak into you, as you wrap your body around our brain, as you feel her memories bleeding into your mind?
The sensations! The sight! The colors! And above all, those memories of a sweet and perfect past.
Can you imagine what it was like? The first time, when she saw herself in the mirror, realized that we were what I had once been, that she had her perfect beauty back?
The ability to walk again! To be able to run! To walk down the street and be envied, to walk down the hallway without being ignored, or see looks of pity?
To stride, in our calm arrogance, to soak in the knowledge that I . . . . she . . . . we are the best. That we are the prettiest, the most powerful, the one who has it all.
And now, I have it all back, and we are the queen once more. The memories are truth. And I rule that society again.
She is a princess in an alien invasion, second in command to Visser Three.
I am the ruler of the school, and the world is my court.
We are queens in a world of petty and weak people, broken promises, shallow words, and empty power.
[A/N: Well? Liked it, loved it, hated it? Send any and all replies to me at anifuture@hotmail.com. And take a look at my webpage, at http://anifuture.hypermart.net.]