Chapter 2: The dawn
The decision had been made for them. It had been made the moment they touched the blue little box. Although none of them knew it at the time. Would they have touched it if they had? Well, maybe Marco would've. Just for kicks.
They didn't notice it at first, it was other people.
"Damn, Rachel." Melissa whined, "how do you keep your skin so smooth?!" she demanded, dabbing even more concealer onto a zit. Rachel looked into the bathroom mirror and shrugged nonchalantly as she fixed her hair. She'd not had a zit in her life and Melissa hated her for it.
"You know me," Rachel joked. "Perfect." Just another lie on top of all the other ones she'd told.
Melissa just rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself." she grinned, grabbing her bag and headed towards the door. She paused and turned back when Rachel didn't move with her. "Coming?" the brunette prompted.
"Yeah," Rachel responded, momentarily distracted by her own reflection. Something just seemed off. Xena; Warrior Princess shook her head slightly, trying to shake the feeling and followed her friend out the bathroom door and into the school hall. That beautiful, fake smile plastered on her beautiful, fake face.
It had been her mother that had pointed it out to Cassie. She'd been trying to find some clean clothes for school. Preferably the ones with the least amount of animal doo on them. It was a difficult mission, and, in all honesty Cassie wasn't up for it. She'd gotten home at five that morning. It had been more difficult than usual because she'd forgotten to leave her window open. Breaking in to your own home whilst wearing a leotard is never a good look. Especially at five a.m. Cassie was feeling pretty hollow right then. In the end she chose a dirty pair of overalls from a corner and a red tee she'd found hiding behind the door. It didn't smell too good. But right then, Cassie didn't care. If her parents weren't home that morning Cassie would have skipped school again. Preferring bed to reality. Reality was just too much for the girl right then. She sighed, trying to keep her eyes open and glanced around the room for her half-started assignment that was due that afternoon. She remembered vaguely that once-upon-a-never-time her room had been clean. Not spotless, but clean. Now she could hardly see the floor. She found the assignment under a forgotten lunch from what looked about three weeks ago. She grabbed the dog-eared paper and headed into the kitchen.
Her mother was already there. She looked up from her morning coffee to her daughter, giving Cassie a weak smile. "You really need to wash your clothes more often." her mother greeted.
"Looked in a mirror lately, Mum?" responded Cassie with half a smile. The woman was in her work clothes, which were, by far, more filthy than Cassie's.
"But I'm not going to school." Her mother retorted, smiling herself.
Nether am I. Cassie wanted to say. I'm off to kill innocent people in the name of war. I'm off to risk my life for humanity. I might not be coming home tonight. "You got me there." Cassie smiled.
Cassie's mother frowned, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. For a moment Cassie thought her mother had caught the lie. She held her breath unintentionally. A thousand lies of explanation came to mind.
"Didn't your Dad buy that for your 14th?" she asked, indicating to the red tee.
A little thrown off by the question, Cassie had to do a double take on the shirt she'd randomly grabbed five minutes before hand. She wasn't even sure it was red. That might just have been all the blood on her hands, in her mouth, through her fur…Cassie looked down at the shirt, "yeah," she replied. Not thinking much about it.
"I'm surprised you haven't out grown it yet." The woman commented, and returned to her coffee not giving it another thought. Cassie did. It planted a seed. The shirt fit perfectly. She'd had it for almost four years. She'd been an Animorph for about that long…
"Hey Shorty," Tom greeted as he caught the basket ball and made a throw at the hoop. It missed and Jake couldn't help but smirk. The real Tom wouldn't have missed. The real Tom wouldn't have quit the team. The real Tom….Jake could have gone on this line for hours. He had so many times before. In-between fighting for his life and dying in his dreams. He reserved that time for Tom and his Yerk.
"Common," Jake groaned, catching the ball and making a throw for the hoop. Good aim, the ball went in the net and bounced back to him. Catching the ball and shooting it over to his infested brother Jake asked, "don't 'ya think the "Shorty" thing's getting a bit old?".
The Yerk laughed. Jake hated it when the Yerk laughed, it looked too much like Tom screaming. His brother was right there, and Jake couldn't save him. "I'll stop calling you "Shorty" when you actually grow an inch."
Jake glowered at his brother. While he wasn't anywhere near the shortest man on the planet (Marco fitted that profile), Jake was officially the shortest guy in the family. He was roughly the same height he'd been at fourteen. His voice still cracked occasionally, which was embarrassing because the young man was almost seventeen.
The Yerk smirked, knowing he'd hit a sore point. "Of course they've got pills for that now." The Yerk said, offhandedly.
"For what?" Jake asked before he could stop himself.
"For dwarfism." Tom responded, and threw the ball. This time it met its target.
Marco cut his hair. It didn't grow back. Things were getting pretty obvious now. Even if no one wanted to say anything. Marco cut his hair. It didn't grow back. They couldn't ignore it, although they tried. Marco cut his hair.
"Hey, look," Rachel said, her tone already dripping with sarcasm as she gave Marco a 'friendly' shove. "Now your hair's short like the rest of you."
"Common," Marco retaliated, "Sixteen years old and that's the best you can come up with?" He was having difficulty maintaining the upset expression he'd plastered on. "Honestly Rachel, I'm embarrassed for the both of us." Marco placed a pained hand to his chest and Rachel gave him a slightly less 'friendly' shove.
Tobias; the bird. Tobias; the boy. The hawk half closed its eyes in the noon-day sun. It knew it should be using this moment to take advantage of the prime-time thermals and hunt. But the boy inside the bird stayed its instincts and meditated. Listening to all the sounds of the field. Listening for the sound of someone moving through the unkempt grass. He didn't know why she always morphed back to human when she got to the field. He didn't know if she was aware that she did. But Tobias had his theories, and he wasn't going to be sharing them with her any time soon.
Tobias knew her face like he knew her mind, but the two were completely unrelated. He remembered her face, her smile, her voice. Exactly as it was when he'd seen her in the hallways of hell. A beautiful angel that didn't even know that he existed. He was less than a bleep. Less than background. He was white noise. Back then. Now he was bird-boy and she was…the bird's eyes flickered open ats the sound of movement. A small mouse stalking a beetle. He could eat a mouse. Tobias swooped from his perch, his shadow eloping the tiny mammal as it froze in terror. The hawk killed instantly. Tobias couldn't stand letting the thing suffer as he ripped it to pieces devouring the tiny soul. Rachel was…
Rachel was moving through the field, Tobias loved to watch her as she walked through the tall grass. Within his habitat but not of it. Moving towards his tree. Swiftly Tobias discarded the remains of his snack.
(Shouldn't you be in school?) he asked, cocking his predatory head to one side.
Rachel looked up at the bird on its branch with cold eyes. Rachel was Xena. She had been changed by the war just as much as he. She knew it, Tobias knew it. They had an understanding. It was something they shared in their silences spent together.
