Note: This chapter takes place before the previous one.
He's human again.
It's the first giveaway that this is a dream.
The construction site is all around him in shades of grey.
Knowing this is a dream, knowing what's about to occur- it does nothing to quell the feelings of terror and helplessness as events unfold. It does nothing to give him control.
Tobias can't move, can't run, can only watch as the crippled Andalite fighter crash-lands. As the Andalite prince stumbles and crashes to his knees in the dirt.
Elfangor.
Father.
He wants to run to him, to call to him. Scream at him to run. To morph. To save himself.
(But, of course, he can't. Morphing takes time and energy, neither of which Elfangor has.)
Tobias does none of those things.
His legs are frozen in place. His lips are melded shut.
There's a burning behind his eyes. Tears. He shouldn't be crying. It's a human reaction. Not hawk. Hawks don't cry.
But he's human now. Arms not wings. Toes not talons.
And the tears won't stop coming.
He knows what's coming as the Yeerk bug fighters come closer, as Visser Three disembarks. Knows it like he knows the woods behind Cassie's house, but he can't look away.
The nightmares always begin this way.
Sometimes it plays out in its entirety.
Visser Three shifts shape into something monstrous and towering, crushing Elfangor in his jaws.
And Tobias hears his father's dying screams echo in his mind and he feels himself scream along with him.
Sometimes they end differently. Sometimes the construction site in all its shades of grey morphs to the white room and the glass cube.
Taylor's voice, screeching at him. And the button, glowing its deep, agonizing red.
You vile little bird! Who are you? To sacrifice your body! Do you realize what you've done?
Yes. More than you know. Yes.
The button pulses and he screams.
Tobias nearly startles himself awake off his branch, barely catching himself with a hurried series of flaps.
His heart is racing.
He hadn't expected the nightmares to end when the war did, but it would be nice if he could catch a bit of a break more than just once in a while.
The sun is rising and he won't be getting anymore sleep for the time being.
He hunkers back down on his branch anyways, ruffling his feathers. A surreptitious glance at the window tells him Rachel is still asleep on Loren's couch.
Either he hadn't screamed in his sleep or it wasn't enough to wake her.
That had happened a few times over the course of the war. He remembers that it used to trouble Ax. He also remembers his shorm's clumsy but well-meaning offer to talk if he ever needed it.
/Good old, Ax-man./
Except Ax isn't here anymore- he's back with his own people- and that thought brings with it a fresh grief that Tobias doesn't want to deal with.
Sure, Ax isn't gone for good. They'll see each other again.
It's just… going to take some getting used to.
It's almost funny, isn't it? He's spent so much time being alone before… before everything. He shouldn be used to it.
Ax being gone shouldn't even phase him, but it does.
Tobias doesn't want to think about it.
He spreads his wings and lifts off his branch.
The sun is up and prey is about.
It's time for him to start hunting.
Note: I adore Tobias. I think he was probably my first fictional love. Even if my support for R/T remains undying. I adore his character arc- still bitter he got less books than the rest of the characters.