Chapter 25 (Ax)
The mission had gone well. Joseph had, as far as I could gather, been successful. But he still seemed somewhat subdued.
Once Prince Jake and the others had left for their respective homes Joseph, Tobias and I headed for ours. Strictly speaking, Joseph did not actually have a home but he was more than welcome to share my own. Tobias, who was flying ahead of us, pulled back. Are you sure you're feeling okay Joe?
Joseph nodded slowly. "I guess it's just a lot to take in." He scuffed a shoe against the ground sending some of the small stones rolling away. I took it to be a mild form of human annoyance.
"Are you certain you can cope with your situation?" I resisted the urge to play with the sounds. I was concerned for my new friend and I had found, through experience, that the pleasure you get from experimenting with sounds irritates humans a great deal. Joseph did not appear to be in the right mood to be irritated.
He turned to look at me. "Ax. Thank you. But I can handle it. I'm a young adult right? I mean, I can handle mental stress. It's not a problem."
He sounded like he was trying to convince himself rather than me.
There was silence for a few minutes, each of us thinking our own private thoughts. The next part of the plan was going to be the hardest on Joseph. He was going to combine the different morphs he had acquired, and then morph the new human. He was going to stay like that forever and he wouldn't be able to turn back from it. He said he wasn't afraid. He was a very good actor and he was telling lies at exactly the same time.
We walked towards the woods and as soon as we were far enough away I returned to my Andalite body. Joseph watched me morph with interest. "It's like someone pouring thinner on a painting. Everything gets mixed up and moved around, looking completely different than what it started from."
I bowed my head slightly. A very attractive description.
He smiled grimly at me. "Thanks. But that was anything but attractive."
Tobias landed in a tree overhead. Look, guys. We have things to do that are going to take up a little of our time. Can we get a move on?
We continued, deeper into the forest.
Okay, this should be far enough. Tobias came to rest on a tree trunk that had been toppled by the wind some years ago. Joseph sat next to him, staring intently at his feet. "I really don't want to do this."
Don't feel you have to. You can bail.
"And then what? Run for the rest of my life? I don't want to do this, but I haven't come this far to stop at the last stretch."
Supporting his head in his hands, Joseph set about restructuring the DNA he had absorbed. I could have completed the task in mere minutes, but Joseph was inexperienced and took at least ten minutes. When he had finished he looked up. "Would you guys do me a favour?"
What? Tobias's head cocked to one side curiously.
"Look at me now. If anyone ever asks you to remember me, remember me like this. Not like the person I'm going to become. Can you do that?"
Sure.
Of course. Again, I bowed my head in a sign of respect for the human.
"Thanks."
He closed his eyes, and I watched the changes occur.
I heard a slight grating noise as his spine extended a few inches. An extra finger sprang out of his hand where the old one had been severed. His hair changed from being a light brown to being a darker shade.
There were no massive differences as he was morphing from a human to another human. All the limbs stayed in the same place.
Eventually, the morph was completed. He looked up at Tobias and I. What was immensely striking about the whole thing was that, although he looked physically different, his eyes stayed exactly the same. There is a human saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and I believe it to be true. The eyes said everything about who Joseph was and who he had ever been. Whether or not he had controlled the eyes when he morphed, I will never know. I don't believe Joseph would know himself.
He held up his hand in front of his face and studied his finger closely and then held it out for our inspection. "Look. New finger."
We both agreed with him. The next two hours were uncomfortable to say the least. We tried to fill it up with small talk, but the talk was forced and laughter strained. We were all very, very worried.