Title: I know it hurts, it was meant to
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Fall Out Boy
Warnings: canon character death
Pairings: Rachel/Tobias
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 115
Point of view: third
Prompt: Animorphs, any, the gift of pain
Rachel relishes the burn in her muscles, the way she has to gasp for breath, how everything aches.
If it hurts, she tells Tobias once, it means you're alive.
She knows she isn't going to survive this war. She'll do everything she can to make sure the others do.
.
If it hurts, Tobias thinks, it means you're alive. Everything in him is throbbing. He feels broken.
He's alive. He's alive and she's not. He's alive and bleeding out at the same time, and it's not fair.
He's alive and doesn't want to be, but he'll survive now. He'll keep living this half-life because to do anything less would be an insult to Rachel.