Ok here it is, the epilogue! I have to say, this fic turned out to be considerably longer than I'd planned it to be. I'd only intended 5 or so chapters but here we are, more than double that. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing!
The usual copyright BS. I don't own Animorphs and I ain't makin any money off this.
~The Last Ronin~
"I still wish you'd tell me how you did it," Erek the Chee complains, "I can't find any records at all on that symbol you two have on your shoulders."
I laugh. We have this conversation every hundred years or so.
"I've already told you Erek," Tobias laughs with me, "death didn't agree with Rachel, and I go where she goes."
Our legs dangle off the edge of the cliff and I slide a little closer to my husband. He smiles at me and wraps an arm around my waist.
"You two are impossible," Erek throws up his hands.
"You're not going to find any information on The Eye either," Tobias adds as Erek starts to leave, "so you might as well give it up."
The Chee's face lights up. Every so often one of us lets a little more information drop for Erek. Not that it'll help him. There are few records on The Guard and fewer yet on our Boss. This is largely because it's one of The Guard's functions to eliminate such records. Anonymity is our first line of defense, just like it had been for us Animorphs so long ago.
To that end, we're really not allowed to give mortals any information about us. But our Boss actually likes Erek, although Erek himself is completely unaware that they've even met, so we're permitted to drop hints here and there.
I think our Boss wants to recruit Erek actually. The only reason Erek hasn't been recruited, that I'm aware of anyway, is the problem of him having no real soul to speak of. Souls can be bound to our Boss and taken from this universe to the next. Circuitry can't.
"I'll see you two later," Erek turns to go again, "maybe I'll figure out what this "Eye" is by then."
"Good luck!" Tobias calls and then grows silent as he watches our old friend leave.
"Do you regret it?" I ask quietly, knowing his thoughts are on our friends and family - from back when we were still mortal. He still sometimes jokes that I can read his mind, but really it's just that we've been together so long; he seemingly reads my mind as often as I do his.
"I'd do it all again given the choice," he leans against me and squeezes my hand, "do you?"
My answer is the same as his of course, but still I pause, my mind drifting back to our mortal life.
x-x-x-x-x
The first few years after my memory returned were hard. I often woke up screaming and sweating from nightmares of the time I died or from any number of our close calls during the war. But Tobias' arms around me never failed to bring me back, nor did he complain about his disturbed sleep.
A month after joining The Guard, Tobias proposed to me for the second time. For the second time I said yes. This time, however, I got a ring. Not that I'd ever needed one. I think Tobias just wanted the world to know that I was his and I couldn't really complain about that.
We went to collage and finished school before we married; in part due to my mother's request and in part so that our friends and family could get used to our new appearances. Part of our signing bonus, as it was, was that Tobias' human form was restored as his real form and both of us were aged to the point we would have been had he not been trapped and I not died.
That was a relief. I'd been tired of people looking at me like I was a pedophile when I introduced Tobias as my boyfriend. But it was awkward for a while too: first explaining what had happened to everyone without telling them exactly what had happened. Second was the fact that our rapid aging had kicked our hormones into overdrive. For a long time we had a lot of difficulty keeping our hands off each other for more than a few minutes at a time. Actually, I'm still not entirely certain how I managed to make it to our wedding without getting pregnant.
Our wedding was an extraordinary event the likes of which I doubt had, or has, ever been seen. The guest list included humans, Hork Bajir, Andalites, Chee. Even the Ellimist showed up according to our Boss, though he hadn't made himself known. And of course, that meant our Boss was there too...maybe that's where he met Erek?
Jake and I were more or less on speaking terms again though the tension between us never really vanished. And Cassie and I renewed our friendship though, again, we were never as close as we had been.
Marco was another story. The two us had become quiet close over the years since I came back. In fact, if he didn't know any better, Tobias might have been jealous. Not that he had anything to worry about. Marco and I were close but in a "sibling we'd never had" way. He was a blessing for both of us though. There was just too much that had happened during the war that we couldn't really talk about with those who hadn't been there.
The biggest surprise we had was an unexpected guest. Elfangor. Through some bit of sorcery, my deceased soon-to-be father-in-law was allowed to attend. Whether it was the Ellimist or our Boss though I still don't know and if Elfangor knew himself he didn't say.
Our honeymoon was nothing short of a fiasco. I'd never actually thought that "everything that could possibly go wrong" was more than a cynic phrase before those two weeks. After the first couple of days we just gave up and settled for laughing at every new catastrophe.
About the only thing that did go right in those two weeks was that we got started on a family of our own. We both wanted children and our fifty years, sixty actually - our Boss gave us a decade as a wedding present -, were ticking away.
Alan Aximili was born nine months later and I can scarcely remember a happier moment in my life. Tobias had looked...well I don't actually know a good enough word to describe how he looked.
Next came David and Tobias didn't question my reason for that name. David was my one secret from the war that I'd never told anyone. I think Tobias knew anyway, but if he did he never mentioned it.
Finally was our daughter Hope, after which I threatened to neuter my husband with a dull spoon if he ever got me pregnant again. Three times was enough.
The years slipped away happily. Our children grew and eventually started families of their own.
The war was forgotten save in the hearts and minds of those left who lived it. Our family was only ever really reminded of it when Ax or Marco visited...or the times when they caught Tobias and I morphing birds to slip away for a while.
But we never forgot, the war or the people we lost because of it. It was always in our thoughts, even during the happiest of times.
A few times our kids wondered if maybe I needed help; on occasions when I was more lost in memories of the war than usual or woke up screaming when one nightmare or another made a reappearance. Tobias just glared at them. For all the years he'd been human he could still glare like a hawk.
Our grandchildren were fascinated by the war; amazed that they were related to Rachel the Phoenix - a nickname cooked up by some journalist after I came back. They always wanted to hear stories. Often times it was painful, but I told them what I could - only slightly worried by what they would take from those tales.
Not that I had to worry really. The war had been so long ago at that point that there was no way they could possibly understand. But I was glad for that fact. It made everything we did feel worthwhile.
Our time ran down until at last we could feel The Guard calling for our return.
We gathered our family together to say our goodbyes. Our children half thought we were crazy, but they humored us.
"Mom, Dad? Are you sure you're not just tired? You look fine," Hope asked, her voice laced with worry, and I hugged her tightly.
"Don't be scared." I kissed her, "A long time ago I made a deal with someone. It's just time for me to pay up."
"Dad?" Alan looked at us, "You know this sounds crazy. Why are you going along with this?"
"Well, your mother was always crazy," Tobias winked at me, I giggled like I was ten years old again, and pointed to his wedding ring, "but I made a promise to her. Where she goes, I go."
"Dad," David began but Tobias waved him quiet.
"Kids," he said slowly, "you know the stores we told you about the war. You've seen your Uncle Ax and you've seen us morph. You know we weren't lying about any of that. We haven't always told you everything, but we have never lied to you."
They stare at us and I can see realization slowly sinking in. We should probably go before the tears really start. I don't know if I can bear to say goodbye to someone I care about while they're crying again.
"You ready?" Tobias whispers, holding out his hand.
"Let's do it!" I laughed and took his hand as The Guard reclaimed us.
x-x-x-x-x
"Rachel?" Tobias' voice startles me out of my day dream.
"Huh? What?" I mumble, blinking to be sure I'm awake.
"Enjoy your trip down memory lane?" he teases and kisses me.
"Mmhmm," I reply, kissing him back.
"So you didn't answer my question," he gives me a little poke in my side to make sure I'm listening, "do you regret it?"
"No," I shake my head, my blond hair flying about, "I get to spend eternity with my best friend. What's to regret?"
He smiles and kisses me again. No I don't regret one day of the time I've spent loving him. I should tell him that, but the way his eyes still gleam when he looks at me says he already knows, and that he feels the same way too.