A/N: Two-in-one update! So sorry :x Happy New Year, everyone! (:

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

::Tobias::

I couldn't control myself anymore.

I drew back my fists and lunged at the bastard before me.

"Because your girlfriend killed me."

David was faster; he turned slightly and stuck out his foot before I could react. I tried to right myself but ended up spinning around and falling hard on my back.

"Argh!" I yelled.

"Come on, Bird-boy, that all you got?" asked David, smirking.

"Is she here?" I demanded. "Do you have her here too?"

"Her?" David raised his eyebrow. "You mean Rachel?"

I wish I had my killer raptor gaze right now so I could fry this guy alive. "Just because I can't morph doesn't mean I won't go all out to destroy you, David. You talk about us losing humanity for the war? Well, this is it. Because people like you push us to the damned limit!"

David's cocky gaze faltered for a bit, but he resumed it in a second. "I'm not going to waste my time listening to you threaten me, Tobias. All I have to do is to morph and you'd be wiped out completely. Why would you do that when you're supposed to save someone?"

My eyes widened. So Rachel was here after all!

Before I could react, David's foot went down hard on me. I fell back against the ground, struggling and wincing all at once. Oh, to be a hawk again to claw out that jerk's eyes!

It was then that something flashed before my eyes.

"Tobias, don't eat the wrapper, for God's sake!" A hand reached out to my lollipop and I jerked back instantly. No way was anybody going to take my sweet.

"Tobias!"

It was the only thing I wanted, and now that I got it, I was going to do whatever I wanted with it.

"Tobias, I'm telling you... AHHH!"

My head shot up and it banged backwards against the seat. A boy was in front – no, no!

AHHHHH! I screamed, but no sound came out. MOMMY, HE'S GOING TO DIE!

"AHHHHH!" My mother screamed with all her might as she tried to brake in time. The little boy fell backwards in shock just as the car came to a stop. But I saw his eyes – his frightened eyes as he stared straight at me.

It was my fault. I had not listened to my mother and she had nearly run him down.

My fault!

A sharp blow to my face brought me back to reality – which was David towering over me with his boot near my cheek. I punched away his foot, only to have him bend down and connect his fist with my jaw. I groaned loudly as the taste of bitter iron flooded my mouth.

"Not so brave anymore, are you, my little hawk?"

What was this memory? Why was I having this memory? I knew nothing about my mother. Nothing! How could she have –

"Thinking about a way to escape? I suggest you leave it. Ain't gonna happen." David smirked once again.

Then I looked into his eyes.

And drew a sharp breath.

Those eyes...

The little boy scrambled up, his tiny body shivering.

I wanted to open my mouth and tell him it was all right. Mom got out of the car.

But he ran away.

I wanted to say I was sorry. But he was gone.

What?

I struggled to sit up. David was moving towards the door. I had to say something. I couldn't let him go to Rachel and hurt her.

"Were you knocked down once?" I blurted. "Nearly knocked down, I mean."

David stopped short. Then he looked at me in amazement. "What?"

"When you were like – I don't know..." I tried to recall. "Five? Four? Six?"

David laughed hollowly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"In this reality," I clarified. "You've been stuck in this reality for the past sixteen years. I can't believe it."

"No!" David said, instantly. "Not that –" He narrowed his eyes. "What do you know?"

I wheezed as I leant against the wall. "I don't know. All I know is that if you've been here for a while, that sucks big time. I've only been here for a few days and I'm hating it to the core already."

David barked out a laugh again. "Seriously? I mean, I control this shit. I'd definitely make my life more pleasant than yours, don't you think? Besides, I didn't have to stay here, that's stupid. I just went back in this timeline once before I came to the present. I'm smarter than you think I am."

He said the last bit a little angrily.

Only once? If David had to change one thing in our timeline, which would it be? What would have resulted in things turning out this way?

Of course. There would only be one incident. He would have diverted us from the construction site. He knew that was where everything began. Jake knew nothing, which meant we couldn't have cut through the site. But then why did I have that strange memory of the near-car accident? What was that supposed to mean? That little boy...

"Maybe you landed at a point in time you weren't supposed to be in," I said.

David's eyes flickered. A sense of triumph gnawed at me.

"You think you know a lot about us," I said. "But you don't. And you don't realise what your actions have done."

David scoffed and reached out for the doorknob.

"In this reality, my mother is alive," I whispered. "I never went to school. I was homeschooled and hardly left the house. Which means I would have never met Jake and the rest."

David's hand froze.

"Which means, I couldn't have gone to the construction site with them."

David turned around slowly, his eyes now filled with a strange emotion that I couldn't decipher. But I was getting to him. I knew I was.

Then he burst out laughing again. "So what? It doesn't matter. You're still in this position. Jake managed to find you. You were going to be enrolled in the school and now you're here. My prisoner. It doesn't change anything."

He ran a hand through the tufts of his hair. "You see, apart from altering time, I happen to be given the power to alter personalities as well. Which is why none of you feel the same way as you do before. And that way, you are severely handicapped because I know those bits of your personalities are really what makes you you. Don't you miss your wings, little Birdie?"

I tried to flex my arm, but a sharp pain shot through my bones and I gritted my teeth.

"The Yeerks want you so, so badly. Maybe they haven't been exposed to the Andalite resistance yet in this reality," said David, pretending to look thoughtful. "But I'll make sure it doesn't start. And they'll just get you on a silver platter. How exciting."

He still didn't get it. Ax had educated us time and again on the perils of toying with time. This was no game David should have indulged in from the start.

As he left the room, I curled into a ball, trying my best to ignore the agonising pains shooting up in all directions within me. There was no doubt that eventually, David would have to pay the price for meddling with what he shouldn't have meddled with in the first place.