Once We Were Five: Haunting Memories
AN: I seriously don't know if this is going to be the last chapter or not, it depends.
DISCLAIMER: see first chapter
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"The jury has found you guilty as charged." The judge told Tobias firmly in the New York court as he slammed the gavel down. "The sentence is death." The witnesses started whispering among themselves and Tobias felt his last remaining tendrils of hope snap.
When he left the courthouse in care of the two prison guards, he could hear all the radio stations and TV news channel reporters chattering away into their mikes and groaned.
"The court judgment has just come out!" Perky Laura Einman said cheerfully. "This 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of two accounts of first-degree murder and driving while intoxicated. The court has given him the death sentence! This is Laura Einman, for Pasadena Channel 9 news. New York City, New York."
"Oh, man..." Jake groaned and stood up from his spot on the couch. Tom looked questioningly at him. "Someone needs to go restrain Rachel. Somehow, I think she's going to go nuts."
"How could they do that to him?!" Rachel screamed up in her room, venting anger. "There is no way he could have been the one driving that night! He was with me the entire time! And they didn't even research that other charge properly!"
She was still screaming when Jake showed up at the house an hour later, and she had started throwing things too. Sara opened the door and said "I think she's mad."
"No, really?" Jordan asked sarcastically as she met them in the hall. "Follow the yells."
"I know where Rachel's room is." Jake told her, as he left for her room. There was another crash from upstairs and more screaming. "Man, now I'm glad she can't morph anymore. This house would be in ruins."
"The way this is going, it just might be any way." Jordan said.
Jake whimpered when he reached her door and there was silence. He opened it slowly and found her collapsed on the bed, her shoulders shaking. "Hey, Rach?" he said softly. "You know, if we really move, we might make to NY before they do it."
Tobias was pacing in the death row cell, his tear ducts long since emptied. He had finished off two letters and had given them to the guard to send to Pasadena. That was two long hours ago and now he was waiting for the injection in 10 minutes.
"Hey, kid?" a gruff voice came from behind the steel door. "It's time."
"What do you mean, there's been a slight delay in transport to the city?" Rachel screamed at the policeman.
"Sorry, miss, we can't let any traffic or pedestrians through." he told her. "The accident's clogged up all the lanes and sidewalks."
"We have to get through NOW!" Rachel shrieked at him.
"I'm sorry, miss, I'm just doing my job."
"Okay, kid, just sit there on the seat, that's a good kid." Eric Berenson said as Tobias slid onto the death chair.
Eric's partner, a young guy, came in with the syringe, and handed it to Eric before fleeing. Tobias watched as Eric rolled up Tobias' sleeve to administer the deadly poison...
"Come on, Jake!" Rachel urged as they were running through an alternate route. She was praying that it wouldn't be too late...
As the poison coursed through Tobias' veins, Eric watched his face carefully. Usually, after the first few seconds, there came-
"AHHHHHH!" Tobias screamed helplessly. "I DIDN'T DO IT!"
Then there was a soft "I love you, Rachel," before the silence overcame the room.
Eric was shaking, now. Never, in all his years as executioner, had he heard a prisoner scream that they were innocent. He'd heard it all, from the "OKAY, I DID IT!" to the "HELP ME, MAMA!" But never "I DIDN'T DO IT!" Usually the seconds before death were the emotional ones, where the madmen yelled "Heil Hitler!" or other like phrases, the guilty guiltily said "I'm sorry." The emotional said "Forgive me," and familial said their last "I love you". He'd even heard a few "I am a sinner, oh Lord. Forgive my sins, so that I may-" Then he died.
'Rachel?' Eric wondered as he exited the room, leaving the dead teen's body for the Disposal crew to take care of. 'I wonder...'
He knew his niece Rachel in California had a boyfriend whose name was Tobias. Coincidence? Maybe. But Rachel had the same temper as him and if he had indeed killed her boyfriend...
Eric didn't want to think about that.
He sat down in the hallway, rubbing his temples, when there came a call of "Uncle Eric!"
Eric groaned as he looked up and saw Jake and Rachel running towards him. "You're too late." He said as they stopped in front of him.
Rachel collapsed onto the ground, in shock. Two. That was two losses she'd suffered, in just one week. She broke down and started sobbing.
Jake and Eric, unsure of what to do for her, stood awkwardly in front of each other. Rachel said softly from the ground "Can I go in?"
Eric opened the door. Rachel closed the door behind her, and Jake watched as his pale-faced uncle slid down to the ground. "I'm going to be hearing that for a long time..."
"Tobias..." Rachel whispered, still clinging desperately to the slim chance he'd be alive. "Oh, Tobias, why'd they do it? I know you didn't do it..." she pressed his cold hand against her cheek. "I love you, Tobias..."
* * *
When Jake, Rachel, and Eric returned to Pasadena, Naomi, Jean and Steve were waiting for them.
Staying with Jake's family, Eric woke up every night in a cold sweat, remembering the helpless screams of innocence from Tobias.
Rachel was sinking deeper and deeper into depression, and Jake was getting more and more frightened. He hardly even recognized Rachel anymore.
Then came the fateful dream. Rachel was sleeping uneasily again, echoes from the past drifting into and out of her dreams, when she heard someone say, "Rachel... Rachel, listen to me."
`Who is it?' Rachel thought sleepily. "Rach, it's Cassie. Whatever you do, do not wake up right now. Do not wake up." `Right, Cass. Whatever. What do you want? What's happening?' "Let's just say once we were 5. After that we became 3. Right now, we're 2. We'll be one by the end of tonight." `You're not making sense, Cass. Elaborate.'
"Rachel, come on." It took all of her strength NOT to wake up. `Tobias?' "The one and the only, Rach. Now listen hard. The car that crashed into Cassie was a red Chevette with the license MDISCOOL. Who do we know that drives a car like that?" `Marco?' Rachel asked skeptically.
"Exactly." `Jake?!' Rachel yelped silently. `Okay, now I'm going nuts.' "No, you're not." `Course I am.' "Rachel, shut up and listen." Cassie growled. "There's not much time left and you need to understand fast. Somehow, Marco got his morphing powers back and morphed out when he crashed into me. He's been raving mad for a while now. He deliberately crashed his car, even if he was drunk, into mine," "He tipped the police off about something that happened in NYC with me, although I'm at a loss at how he found out," Tobias continued. "And he just killed me in my sleep." Jake finished.
"Now, don't start yelling." Cassie started again. "Please don't start yelling. Now, don't start freaking out either, but... someone else tell her." Tobias took over. "He is--" "Do you have to tell her in that much detail?" `Oh, be quiet Jake. No matter how you tell her, it's gonna happen."
Rachel was about to ask what was going to happen, when she felt an intense pain in her chest. Losing it and screaming in agony, she saw everything flash before her eyes, and fell silent.
From beside her bedside, Marco quickly changed *pop* from a guy into a roach and skittered out underneath Sara's legs as she stumbled into Rachel's room. Sara started screaming and crying and screaming again as the blood kept flowing across the bedsheets, across the carpet, creeping ever closer to her slippered feet.
Marco was now the only Animorph left, and that had been his plan all along. He had been ordered around by Jake long enough, he had been outsmarted by Cassie too many times, he'd been teased and taunted by Rachel way too much, and he hated Tobias for taking what he thought to be rightfully his away from him: Rachel.
Ah, yes Rachel. His first love. Sure, he knew she would never go for him, but he thought she would change her mind. He had almost gotten her on a date with him...
Then along came Tobias and all his hard work went down the drain. Rachel was obviously taken with him, and Marco hadn't liked this at all. They were all going to pay for taking advantage of him, oh, yes they would.
He knew he could get at the others easily enough: it was Rachel and Jake that worried him. Cassie lived too far out to be well protected. Driving her clear off the road was his first step. Just get her away from those others and she would be vulnerable, easily targeted, and gone.
Tobias' little incident in NYC was pure luck that he found out. It seemed that Tobias had moved to Pasadena in the first place because he had gotten into a spot of a bother with the police in NYC. Found at the scene of a murder and they all had thought him guilty, just as they had with Cassie's death. Oh, this was pure ecstasy for Marco, to kill Tobias and not even be truly involved. All he had had to do was mention innocently to the police Tobias' little record and they did the rest.
After Tobias was gone, that left Rachel free for the taking, but not before the meddling war hero Jake was out of the way. It had been easy for Marco to sneak into Jake's bedroom, in morph, of course, and kill swiftly. Nobody heard Jake yell, and he even doubted they had found out yet. Sure, Jake had been his best friend once, but those days were over. Oh, no, Marco Degagne didn't count on, work for, or do anything with anybody but himself now.
Then Rachel: the final step in his plan. She, too, was so vulnerable, but why had it been so hard for him to get to her? It was if she'd had a ring of protection around her, but he had broken through finally, but he had hesitated. Stupid, stupid conscience, why did come to haunt him now? If he hadn't hesitated, he could've been out and out of town before daybreak. Not now. Now he had to hang around and make his exit quietly.
But that was past: his plan was complete and he could live in complete bliss for the remainder of his life.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a place called Perfect (AKA Cloud 9, 7^th Heaven, plain Heaven):
"Hey, Rach, Rach, calm down. It's okay." Tobias soothed, as Rachel was sobbing into his arms.
"It was so horrible," Rachel whimpered. Tobias gave a sort of wry grin at Jake and Cassie, hand in hand a distance away. "All of ours were, Rach. Now calm down, he can't get you here."
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AN: yes, yes I know I'm horrible. I am beating myself up continually for doing this to the Animorphs. NO FLAMES, no matter how much you feel like flaming me.
AN: I seriously don't know if this is going to be the last chapter or not, it depends.
DISCLAIMER: see first chapter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The jury has found you guilty as charged." The judge told Tobias firmly in the New York court as he slammed the gavel down. "The sentence is death." The witnesses started whispering among themselves and Tobias felt his last remaining tendrils of hope snap.
When he left the courthouse in care of the two prison guards, he could hear all the radio stations and TV news channel reporters chattering away into their mikes and groaned.
"The court judgment has just come out!" Perky Laura Einman said cheerfully. "This 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of two accounts of first-degree murder and driving while intoxicated. The court has given him the death sentence! This is Laura Einman, for Pasadena Channel 9 news. New York City, New York."
"Oh, man..." Jake groaned and stood up from his spot on the couch. Tom looked questioningly at him. "Someone needs to go restrain Rachel. Somehow, I think she's going to go nuts."
"How could they do that to him?!" Rachel screamed up in her room, venting anger. "There is no way he could have been the one driving that night! He was with me the entire time! And they didn't even research that other charge properly!"
She was still screaming when Jake showed up at the house an hour later, and she had started throwing things too. Sara opened the door and said "I think she's mad."
"No, really?" Jordan asked sarcastically as she met them in the hall. "Follow the yells."
"I know where Rachel's room is." Jake told her, as he left for her room. There was another crash from upstairs and more screaming. "Man, now I'm glad she can't morph anymore. This house would be in ruins."
"The way this is going, it just might be any way." Jordan said.
Jake whimpered when he reached her door and there was silence. He opened it slowly and found her collapsed on the bed, her shoulders shaking. "Hey, Rach?" he said softly. "You know, if we really move, we might make to NY before they do it."
Tobias was pacing in the death row cell, his tear ducts long since emptied. He had finished off two letters and had given them to the guard to send to Pasadena. That was two long hours ago and now he was waiting for the injection in 10 minutes.
"Hey, kid?" a gruff voice came from behind the steel door. "It's time."
"What do you mean, there's been a slight delay in transport to the city?" Rachel screamed at the policeman.
"Sorry, miss, we can't let any traffic or pedestrians through." he told her. "The accident's clogged up all the lanes and sidewalks."
"We have to get through NOW!" Rachel shrieked at him.
"I'm sorry, miss, I'm just doing my job."
"Okay, kid, just sit there on the seat, that's a good kid." Eric Berenson said as Tobias slid onto the death chair.
Eric's partner, a young guy, came in with the syringe, and handed it to Eric before fleeing. Tobias watched as Eric rolled up Tobias' sleeve to administer the deadly poison...
"Come on, Jake!" Rachel urged as they were running through an alternate route. She was praying that it wouldn't be too late...
As the poison coursed through Tobias' veins, Eric watched his face carefully. Usually, after the first few seconds, there came-
"AHHHHHH!" Tobias screamed helplessly. "I DIDN'T DO IT!"
Then there was a soft "I love you, Rachel," before the silence overcame the room.
Eric was shaking, now. Never, in all his years as executioner, had he heard a prisoner scream that they were innocent. He'd heard it all, from the "OKAY, I DID IT!" to the "HELP ME, MAMA!" But never "I DIDN'T DO IT!" Usually the seconds before death were the emotional ones, where the madmen yelled "Heil Hitler!" or other like phrases, the guilty guiltily said "I'm sorry." The emotional said "Forgive me," and familial said their last "I love you". He'd even heard a few "I am a sinner, oh Lord. Forgive my sins, so that I may-" Then he died.
'Rachel?' Eric wondered as he exited the room, leaving the dead teen's body for the Disposal crew to take care of. 'I wonder...'
He knew his niece Rachel in California had a boyfriend whose name was Tobias. Coincidence? Maybe. But Rachel had the same temper as him and if he had indeed killed her boyfriend...
Eric didn't want to think about that.
He sat down in the hallway, rubbing his temples, when there came a call of "Uncle Eric!"
Eric groaned as he looked up and saw Jake and Rachel running towards him. "You're too late." He said as they stopped in front of him.
Rachel collapsed onto the ground, in shock. Two. That was two losses she'd suffered, in just one week. She broke down and started sobbing.
Jake and Eric, unsure of what to do for her, stood awkwardly in front of each other. Rachel said softly from the ground "Can I go in?"
Eric opened the door. Rachel closed the door behind her, and Jake watched as his pale-faced uncle slid down to the ground. "I'm going to be hearing that for a long time..."
"Tobias..." Rachel whispered, still clinging desperately to the slim chance he'd be alive. "Oh, Tobias, why'd they do it? I know you didn't do it..." she pressed his cold hand against her cheek. "I love you, Tobias..."
* * *
When Jake, Rachel, and Eric returned to Pasadena, Naomi, Jean and Steve were waiting for them.
Staying with Jake's family, Eric woke up every night in a cold sweat, remembering the helpless screams of innocence from Tobias.
Rachel was sinking deeper and deeper into depression, and Jake was getting more and more frightened. He hardly even recognized Rachel anymore.
Then came the fateful dream. Rachel was sleeping uneasily again, echoes from the past drifting into and out of her dreams, when she heard someone say, "Rachel... Rachel, listen to me."
`Who is it?' Rachel thought sleepily. "Rach, it's Cassie. Whatever you do, do not wake up right now. Do not wake up." `Right, Cass. Whatever. What do you want? What's happening?' "Let's just say once we were 5. After that we became 3. Right now, we're 2. We'll be one by the end of tonight." `You're not making sense, Cass. Elaborate.'
"Rachel, come on." It took all of her strength NOT to wake up. `Tobias?' "The one and the only, Rach. Now listen hard. The car that crashed into Cassie was a red Chevette with the license MDISCOOL. Who do we know that drives a car like that?" `Marco?' Rachel asked skeptically.
"Exactly." `Jake?!' Rachel yelped silently. `Okay, now I'm going nuts.' "No, you're not." `Course I am.' "Rachel, shut up and listen." Cassie growled. "There's not much time left and you need to understand fast. Somehow, Marco got his morphing powers back and morphed out when he crashed into me. He's been raving mad for a while now. He deliberately crashed his car, even if he was drunk, into mine," "He tipped the police off about something that happened in NYC with me, although I'm at a loss at how he found out," Tobias continued. "And he just killed me in my sleep." Jake finished.
"Now, don't start yelling." Cassie started again. "Please don't start yelling. Now, don't start freaking out either, but... someone else tell her." Tobias took over. "He is--" "Do you have to tell her in that much detail?" `Oh, be quiet Jake. No matter how you tell her, it's gonna happen."
Rachel was about to ask what was going to happen, when she felt an intense pain in her chest. Losing it and screaming in agony, she saw everything flash before her eyes, and fell silent.
From beside her bedside, Marco quickly changed *pop* from a guy into a roach and skittered out underneath Sara's legs as she stumbled into Rachel's room. Sara started screaming and crying and screaming again as the blood kept flowing across the bedsheets, across the carpet, creeping ever closer to her slippered feet.
Marco was now the only Animorph left, and that had been his plan all along. He had been ordered around by Jake long enough, he had been outsmarted by Cassie too many times, he'd been teased and taunted by Rachel way too much, and he hated Tobias for taking what he thought to be rightfully his away from him: Rachel.
Ah, yes Rachel. His first love. Sure, he knew she would never go for him, but he thought she would change her mind. He had almost gotten her on a date with him...
Then along came Tobias and all his hard work went down the drain. Rachel was obviously taken with him, and Marco hadn't liked this at all. They were all going to pay for taking advantage of him, oh, yes they would.
He knew he could get at the others easily enough: it was Rachel and Jake that worried him. Cassie lived too far out to be well protected. Driving her clear off the road was his first step. Just get her away from those others and she would be vulnerable, easily targeted, and gone.
Tobias' little incident in NYC was pure luck that he found out. It seemed that Tobias had moved to Pasadena in the first place because he had gotten into a spot of a bother with the police in NYC. Found at the scene of a murder and they all had thought him guilty, just as they had with Cassie's death. Oh, this was pure ecstasy for Marco, to kill Tobias and not even be truly involved. All he had had to do was mention innocently to the police Tobias' little record and they did the rest.
After Tobias was gone, that left Rachel free for the taking, but not before the meddling war hero Jake was out of the way. It had been easy for Marco to sneak into Jake's bedroom, in morph, of course, and kill swiftly. Nobody heard Jake yell, and he even doubted they had found out yet. Sure, Jake had been his best friend once, but those days were over. Oh, no, Marco Degagne didn't count on, work for, or do anything with anybody but himself now.
Then Rachel: the final step in his plan. She, too, was so vulnerable, but why had it been so hard for him to get to her? It was if she'd had a ring of protection around her, but he had broken through finally, but he had hesitated. Stupid, stupid conscience, why did come to haunt him now? If he hadn't hesitated, he could've been out and out of town before daybreak. Not now. Now he had to hang around and make his exit quietly.
But that was past: his plan was complete and he could live in complete bliss for the remainder of his life.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a place called Perfect (AKA Cloud 9, 7^th Heaven, plain Heaven):
"Hey, Rach, Rach, calm down. It's okay." Tobias soothed, as Rachel was sobbing into his arms.
"It was so horrible," Rachel whimpered. Tobias gave a sort of wry grin at Jake and Cassie, hand in hand a distance away. "All of ours were, Rach. Now calm down, he can't get you here."
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AN: yes, yes I know I'm horrible. I am beating myself up continually for doing this to the Animorphs. NO FLAMES, no matter how much you feel like flaming me.