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Mina and Kyle -- Pre-Simming
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Part 2/4 The Reunion
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Loren's eyes were so full of tears she couldn't see the blurry picture of her son before her anymore.
"My little Tobias ..." she whispered, her voice scratchy. "I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me? I had to leave, I had to take care of Mina. There was nothing I could do! I wish I could just see you one more time ... one more time ..."
YOU CAN, LOREN.
And everything around her, even the air, stopped.
She watched, fascinated, as the steam of her mug of coffee became completely still.
Loren jerked up and looked around, wary. The Yeerks? No, not now, not yet ... Tears lay, forgotten, on her cheeks as she cleared her throat. "Who's there?"
Suddenly, the air opened. Loren couldn't tell where it was ... in front--no, behind! Wait, there, to her left, right, above her ... space opened, and the Ellimist appeared.
He seemed to be an old man, but an energy radiated from him that indicated he was anything but frail. A blue aura surrounded him. His eyes were black, and looked like they were full of stars.
Loren's eyes widened. Not the Yeerks, then, but a friend. "I know you!" she whispered.
The Ellimist nodded once. "Hello, Loren. We have not met in many years."
"Why are you here?" she asked angrily. Loren tried to be fair, but he was part of the reason she could see her son no more.
"I have come to grant your wish, Loren," the Ellimist said. "I have come to show you Tobias."
Loren stopped breathing. Her senses focused on the Ellimist intently. Did she dare believe him? Did she dare take up hope which had avoided her for so long?
Yes, she thought. I dare.
"What do I have to do?" she asked, her voice betraying nothing. Too many years running from an enemy she couldn't see had made her cautious around anything and anyone.
"Nothing," he said simply. "Come with me."
Suddenly, Loren was whisked away into the sky. There was nothing beneath her feet, and for a moment, she shuddered in fear. Then, seeing as she wasn't falling, she observed, a skill she had relied on for so long.
She was above a forest. To the west she could she a city, but it could have been anywhere. Loren had no idea where she was. The Ellimist was no where to be seen.
Looking around her, she was amazed to see she was not alone in the sky. A hawk flew directly beside her as she raced above the ground! And there, to its right, an eagle! Behind her, two ospreys, a falcon, and a harrier! What was going on?
I WILL LET YOU HEAR THEIR THOUGHT-SPEECH.
-body remember the last time we tried to do this? We barely escaped. As usual.
Loren might have jumped into the air, if she hadn't been there already. A voice inside her head! But she hadn't heard thought-speech since Elfangor disappeared.
Elfangor. An Andalite. Her husband.
Marco, is it possible in the slightest for you to be optimistic, just once in your life? A female voice.
Apparently, they couldn't see or hear her as she floated next to them. That was fine by Loren. The less they knew about her as she learned more about them, the better.
I can be optimistic when I want to be, retorted the first voice, now dubbed Marco. It's just that going into the Yeerk Pool isn't exactly my idea of a party!
Loren gasped. The Yeerk Pool! These must be the Andalite Bandits she had heard rumors about; the ones who fought Visser Three valiantly.
Besides, the voice continued, it's hard to be optimistic when you're considered dead by, let's see, the whole world. I'll never be able to get a drivers' license ... There was a pause. And I'll never be able to date a girl again! It was obvious that, despite the desperate words, 'Marco' was joking around.
A new male voice spoke up. Marco, since when did you date any girl in the first place?
Loren froze. She knew that voice. She had never heard it speak before, but it was too much like his father's to be a coincidence.
"Ellimist!" she called. "Is this ... is he ..."
Suddenly, time froze again. The birds floated in place, the still wind caught beneath their wings. But somehow -- vague outlines, wispy ghosts, or otherwise -- she also saw the true bodies of the birds. There were five humans and one Andalite. Loren started towards the Andalite, overcome, before she realized it was not her Elfangor.
The Ellimist did not appear.
THE HAWK, he said, IS YOUR SON, TOBIAS.
Wide-eyed, she turned to look at the hawk. Her son.
"But he can morph!" she cried. "How is this possible?"
YOUR HUSBAND GAVE THESE FIVE HUMANS THE POWER TO MORPH. AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL IS ELFANGOR'S BROTHER. THESE SIX FIGHT THE YEERKS, AND ARE KNOWN AS THE ANDALITE BANDITS.
Loren tentatively reached out a hand to stroke the boy's hair. It seemed she was stroking the feathers of the hawk as well, but Loren didn't notice. This was her son, her precious Tobias. All grown up ...
Loren fell to her knees in the air and cried.
"My Tobias, fighting the Yeerks ... Elfangor, you would be so proud of him, he's done so much for your cause ..." Suddenly, a thought seized her. "Does he know? Does he know of his father, of ... me?"
HE KNOWS OF HIS FATHER, LOREN. HE DOES NOT KNOW OF YOU.
More sobs escaped her. "Please, can I talk to him? Tell him why I had to leave, that I still love him ..."
I'M SORRY, LOREN. IT WOULD DISRUPT THE BALANCE TOO MUCH. ONE DAY ... HE WILL LEARN. BUT NOT HERE, AND NOT NOW.
Touching her son's cheek, tears streaming unnoticed down her face, she nodded. "I ... understand."
THERE IS ONE YOU MUST TALK TO, LOREN.
Suddenly, she was no longer by her son's side. "No!" she cried. "Not yet, please!"
The Ellimist did not answer.
After long moments, she got a hold on herself and glanced around quickly. Then her head shot back up, all her muscles tensed to protect herself.
Taxxon!
Taxxons were cannibalistic worm-like aliens. They were willing hosts for the Yeerks, but not even a Yeerk could retain its slave-like control when blood was split and the Taxxon wanted to feed.
Why the hell had the Ellimist brought her here?
The Taxxon leaped toward her! Before Loren knew what happened, it had its upper body raised, ready to strike her down with an enormous blow.
Yeerk! it cried.
Stunned, Loren's head whirled. This was too much. "How can you talk in thought-speech?" Then, she remembered the one Taxxon who could. "Arbron?"
The Taxxon froze. How do you know my name?
Loren shook her head and muttered, "I'm not even sure myself ..." Speaking up, she continued. "It's Loren."
Gasping, the Taxxon scurried back. Loren? Elfangor's human?
Loren sighed. Even stuck in morph as a Taxxon, this Andalite was still as arrogant as she remembered. "Yes. Elfangor's human."
What are you doing here?
"I don't know," she answered, shaking her head. "The Ellimist brought me here. I suppose to talk to you." She looked up at him, her eyes soft with pity. "How are you, Arbron?"
The years have not been kind, he answered. While the Taxxon Resistance seems to be causing trouble of our own, I have my own, personal torment to deal with.
"It must be so awful for you." It was hard for Loren to imagine what Arbron, once a proud Andalite, must feel after being reduced to a Taxxon with its endless hunger.
Yes, he sighed. But there was one that brought a little joy to my life. He is gone, back with his own people now. He stared at her with his four, Jello-like eyes. He was a human.
Loren inhaled, shocked. "A human? Here? For how long?"
Around 11 or 12 years. I saved him, and raised him as my own son. Arbron sighed again. I knew, though, that he had to go back. Live his life among his own kind. Like I never could, he finished, whispering.
Loren didn't know what to say. They stood there for a long moment.
Perhaps you have met him, he asked, his voice full of hope. His name was Kyle Star.
Loren's head snapped up. "Kyle Star. Tall kid, long brown hair, blue eyes, that Kyle Star?!"
Yes! Arbron nodded excitedly. That is him. Have you seen him?
Loren slowly nodded back. "Yeah. He's friends with my ... daughter, Mina."
Amazing, Arbron said. It must have been fate that brought him to you.
"Perhaps. But how did he get here?" she asked.
Arbron sighed. From what we have been able to determine, Kyle's mother gave him up when he was born. For some reason unknown to us, she was on the Andalite homeworld at that time. An Andalite family took him in and raised him until he was two years old. Then they decided to send him back to live with his own people. But, there was a malfunction ... they crashed here. We barely managed to save Kyle, but there was nothing we could do for the Andalite. Arbron paused, remembering. I raised him as my own son. I protected him, and I loved him. But I knew he had to go back one day. He was, of course, taught about the Yeerks. One day, he wanted to fight them. I wonder if he is getting his chance now ... Arbron trailed off.
"I-" Loren was interrupted.
LOREN. IT IS TIME TO GO.
Your pet Ellimist? Arbron would have smirked. I wish you luck, Loren.
"I wish you hope, Arbron," she responded.
One more thing! he cried. If you talk to Kyle, tell him ... tell him I said, 'An Andalite among the Hive Mountain suffers as a Yeerk under my hoof.'
Loren nodded, tears in her eyes for Arbron's tortured soul. "I will," she said simply.
Then she was gone.
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Kyle stood silently in the shadows while he watched Mina and Mask gallop around the horse pen.
Mask, a stunning stallion, was barely breaking a sweat. Kyle knew from his long discussions with Mina that he had been bred to run. That was one of the reasons she loved Mask so much. Calm and confident, Mask was a picture of freedom.
But Kyle only had eyes for Mina. Though wrapped in layers against early December's biting winds, she appeared just as free as Mask. Bent over the horse, the wind streaming its fingers through her long hair, she literally took his breath away. Instead of controlling and dominating Mask, Mina had a partnership -- no, a friendship with Mask of nine long years. Mina and Mask seemed to know each other's thoughts before the other did. Kyle doubted there were very many people in the world that could make that claim about a bond with their horse.
Kyle often wondered where Mina went when she was riding. He knew it was somewhere special, somewhere sacred. Perhaps that was why he hadn't asked yet. He felt it was somewhere he could not yet enter.
Sighing, Kyle rested his head against the stable and closed his eyes. He remembered vague memories, of riding on horses when he was a child. Only, these horses had blue or purple fur and a deadly tail ...
Mask whinnied and Kyle jumped, startled, all senses on alert. Looking into the ring, he saw Mask standing still, and Mina, watching him, smiling at him. Smiling back, Kyle wondered, not for the first time, what it was that so attracted him to her.
Mina was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. But Kyle had spent so little time among his people, he sometimes wondered if he knew what beauty was. He knew she had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen, big, brown, always questioning, always curious. He supposed it could be anything about her -- her intelligence, her sense of humor, the way she chewed on her pen -- but mostly he believed he was in love with her because she was so innocent, so trusting.
Whatever Kyle felt for Mina, though, he would never show. They were friends, nothing more. If they ever became anything more, he would have to tell her everything -- and he couldn't take the innocence from her eyes.
Mina dismounted, and Kyle's smile changed to a grin as he headed to meet her.
"Hey, stranger," she said, breathless. "You should have told me you were coming!"
"I called your house, but Loren said you had already gone." He fell into step with her as she led her horse.
Loren Fangor was Mina's caretaker. She watched people, just like Mina. Apparently, she had been watching Kyle very closely, because she finally cornered him that night.
Mina had gone out on a quick errand for Loren, which wasn't unusual. Kyle stood in the living room, waiting for her to come back, when Loren spoke, and his soul froze.
"I know about you."
Slowly turning to face her, Kyle regretted never having brought his Dracon beam to Mina's house. He tensed to attack, but Loren kept talking.
"I spoke to Arbron. He mentioned you."
Shocked, Kyle stood there, not knowing what to do. "You ... you talked to Arbron?" he stuttered. "But ... how?"
Loren nodded. "I did. He told me about you, about your past. I'm sorry."
Slowly, Kyle's brain caught up with what she was saying. She had talked to Arbron, his previous guardian! But Arbron was with the Taxxons. Hell, Arbron was a Taxxon!
He stared at Loren suspiciously. "How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know you're not a Controller?"
Controllers. People he spend all of his time fighting, watching for them over his shoulder. A Controller was a host with a slug-like Yeerk wrapped around their brain. While some hosts were voluntary (traitors to their species was how Kyle referred to them), most were slaves, their freedom gone. They could only sit in a corner of their mind and watch while the Yeerk controlled their body -- and forced their family into infestation.
The invasion of Earth was very quiet. Not like the Hork-Bajir or the Taxxons. The Hork-Bajir had been turned into pawns of the Yeerks and the Andalites, the centaur-like race who found the Yeerks. Most of the Taxxons had been willing hosts, but there was a Resistance. Only a few of those free on Earth knew what was happening. Anyone else was a Controller.
Kyle had lived with the Andalites for the first two years of his life, before an accident had dropped him into the laps of the free Taxxons and Arbron.
"Good questions," Loren answered. "Questions asked under times of war. I am sorry one as young as you must be involved in this." Suddenly, Loren got a far-away look in her eyes. "I was about your age when I was pulled into the Yeerks' battle. But," she brought herself back to the present, "Arbron suspected you would ask. He said to tell you, 'An Andalite among the Hive Mountain suffers as a Yeerk under my hoof.'"
Kyle slowly relaxed. Arbron had said these words to him when he was twelve years old, after having seen for the first time a Taxxon eating another. Frightened and confused, Kyle had run to Arbron, demanding to know why they did this. Arbron, a once proud Andalite trapped as a nothlit in a Taxxons body, had said those words, and then explained his meaning. He said, that while he was away from his people and everyone he held dear, when he was afraid he would repeat those words to himself and remember he would have to be strong, even though he suffered. Two years later, when Arbron had taken an angry Kyle to his home planet of Earth, he had spoken these words once more. Now, standing in Loren's living room six months later, Kyle finally understood what Arbron had meant.
He and Loren spoke quickly about Arbron and how the fight against the Yeerks was going. Loren had moved closer to where the Yeerks' activity was centered, on the West Coast. She had heard rumors that Visser Three had been promoted to Visser One, and was stepping up the invasion of Earth. The only thing standing in his way were the "Andalite Bandits."
No one actually knew who the Bandits were. Some thought they weren't Andalite, but human, others a mixture of the two races. All Kyle knew was they fought the Yeerks, which made them allies in his eyes. Some day he hoped to meet these Bandits.
The conversation stopped as they heard Mina's steps on the walk. Kyle quickly asked one more question that he hadn't gotten an answer to. "Loren, how did you talk to Arbron?"
Loren smiled mysteriously. "An Ellimist helped me."
Kyle stared at her. "An Ellimist?! A children's story!" he scoffed. Loren just smiled again, and turned to welcome Mina, who was walking in the door.
Later that night, Kyle mulled over what Loren had said. Ellimists were said by the Andalites to be all-powerful. But those were only children's stories. Ellimists weren't real. Secure in this knowledge, Kyle continued walking to the boys' home, yet he had the nagging feeling he would be proved wrong someday.
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