Just A Memory
Inspired by 'The Beginning'
And
'The Ghost of You and me' sung by BB-Mak

How could it of happened? How? The years of fighting... We'd always made it threw... All of us. We'd had close calls before, but this?... No. It had to be a nightmare... Something that would disappear once I woke up.

<Why?> Was all I could say, as I flew threw the darkening sky. The light reflected elegantly off the urn that held her ashes.

I don't know why I took her ashes...

<Why couldn't it all end like it does in the movies?> I said. If I'd been human I would have been crying, but as I've said before, hawks don't cry. <A happy ending? Couldn't it have ended with us all riding into the sunset as heroes?>

<No...> I said, I felt the anger bubbling inside me. <No, it could never end that way. My life was never meant to be happy... but at least with you, I had hope. You made me feel human again Rach.. I've never felt like I belonged in my life, but you... you always made it right..>

I caught an updraft and sailed higher into the now star lit sky. I didn't know how long I'd been flying, and I didn't care.

<Why did Jake have to send you?> I asked the ashes as though they could hear me. <Why couldn't he have sent someone else? Anyone else..>

Somewhere, deep inside, I think I knew why Jake did it... But I didn't care. It was his fault she was dead. It was his fault she hadn't made it back to earth. Hadn't been there when peace was declared...

I played the moment back in my head. Her final moments of life... Her last words.. 'I love you...'

I found a solitary meadow, high in the mountains and landed. I morphed my human self, I couldn't stand being a hawk any longer. I needed to cry, wanted to.

"I love you too, Rachel..." I held the urn in my hands and looked it over carefully. I could feel the tears begin to flow down my face, as memories flooded back to me. The battles where we fought side by side... The conversations we shared... The closest things to 'dates' a hawk and human can share...

"What am I going to do without you?" I sat down and looked at the sky. It was clear, the stars shone brightly as if all was well with the world. I sat and looked at them for a long time, thinking about her. To many questions... To many memories... I lay back on the grass. Closing my eyes I clutched the urn to my chest, next to my heart. And I just laid there in silence... In remembrance of the only person who had ever showed me they cared... Who, in an instant, had just become a memory...

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I couldn't resist writing this... I just had to try and figure out what Tobias did when he flew a way with Rachel's ashes... That made me want to cry even more then the instant she was killed.... Please read, review/comment/criticize and share you're comments on that instant of the story...