Chapter 28: Marco: Jake Reveals His Plan
"So what now?" Rachel asked, "You gonna kill us already or are we going to have to listen to you gloat and brag on and on?"
David was glaring at Rachel, he always hated her the most out of all of us. And vice versa. She was trying to tick him off, a stupid idea, I mean the guy has us chained up and has a whole bunch of goons around us, ticking David off isn't a good idea.
"Therein lies the best and worst part of this deal, The Ellimist would only let one of you die, but," David took a dramatic pause, he was always about that sort of stuff, even more than me, I have to admit. That jerk. "Here's the best part, your so called fearless leader over there has to decide who dies, then he has to kill that person, only at that point will the others be allowed to go free." David said as he smirked at Jake,
"That's why he hasn't said a word, I told him earlier and warned him that if he said anything that I'd kill all of you before his eyes."
Jake had to choose one of us to kill to let the others go free? God, I thought, that's why he didn't say anything, I was trying to figure out why, I figured something like this was why. He'd never be silent like this otherwise, especially after Cassie tried using her cute voice on him, talking all silent and stuff. Didn't know that she talked like that.
"What?" Rachel demanded. "There's no way he'd agree to that."
"Actually, he's already agreed, he's known about this all day, he's going to do it, he has to. That's the deal Ellimist and Crayak made, one of you has to die in order for the rest to go free."
[Jake,] Tobias started. [There must be another way, you had to have thought of something.] We all turned to Jake but he didn't even look up, he was still staring at the floor, his eyes vacant.
[Jake,] Tobias continued. [Can you hear me? David told us, you can talk now.] Nothing, he didn't answer.
[Prince Jake?] Ax asked. [You must answer us, what shall we do about what David has said? Prince Jake? Are you alright?] Again, nothing. I looked at him, it looked like he was having a hard time breathing, like each breath took all his strength.
"Oh give it a rest," Rachel said with a sneer. "Jake's given up already, that's why he won't answer us."
"No," Cassie almost shouted. "Jake would never give up on us, he's probably thinking up a plan of what to do."
"What to do?" Now Rachel was almost shouting. "What he's going to do is kill one of us, and look at him, he doesn't look like he even cares."
[How dare you say that about Prince Jake,] Now Ax was shouting. [Prince Jake cares about all of us, you must trust him.]
Rachel looked pissed, not that I can't see why, Jake wasn't even trying to say anything about what David said.
David looked around at all of us then back at Jake, grinning and trying not to break out laughing. "This is getting interesting, but I'm growing rather bored of your silence, Jake, you may talk to your little Animorphs and come to a decision. You have half an hour to make your decision and say your goodbyes, I'll be back then. And oh, Jake, make it interesting, I'm getting pretty bored over here".
With that David and his thugs left the room leaving us all silent and staring at Jake, expecting him to stand tall and tell us that everything was going to be okay, that he, our fearless leader found a way out, a way to escape, a way to take down David, something. But he never did. For the first few minutes he remained the same, staring off into space. The room remained silent, until Rachel started screaming at him of course.
"Jake!" Rachel screamed, completely pissed off, more than usual if you can believe it. "I'm getting fucking pissed off at you now, you better say something now or I swear that I'll morph to grizzly right now and go over there and kick your ass. Answer us!"
[I would not advice morphing,] Ax spoke up, trying to be helpful. [Marco has already tried, David's men beat him until he returned to his human form.]
"Oh shut up, Ax, you're not helping." Rachel was now turned to him, practically shaking with rage.
[Shut up, Rachel, don't get mad at Ax, he was just trying to help.] Tobias said to Rachel, she looked shocked, he just told her to shut up when she's ready to snap and kill someone. That takes balls.
"Just look at him, he doesn't even care." Rachel said again, not even addressing that Tobias told her to shut it. "We should be talking about this, coming up with a plan, not watching him stare at the floor. We have like what, ten minutes until David comes back in here to see who Jake kills and he hasn't said a word."
Ax spoke up again, [It has been twelve of your minutes, we have eighteen left.]
"Okay," Rachel said. "Eighteen minutes left, the time doesn't matter, he should be saying something.
Then from Jake came the sound of a deep breath, like he had just come up for air. We all turned to him. He rose his head, his eyes were bloodshot and lifeless but alert at the same time. Then he spoke;
"Cassie?" He turned to look at her, he was crying, not because he was happy to see her but because he was sad, almost looking scared, his body was shaking uncontrollably.
"What the hell, Jake?" Rachel again. "I've been yelling at you for the last minute and the first thing you say is Cassie?"
"Let him be," Cassie said, coming to his defense, it looks like he had a mental break down, his mind must be going crazy having to make this decision."
"Well I'd love to know what he decided, apparently he's had all day to think it over."
"Sorry." Jake said weakly, raising up his shoulders, standing up straight. "If you guys were saying anything then I couldn't hear you, I'm sorry."
"What do you mean you couldn't hear us?" Rachel was screaming again. "We all tried getting your attention, Tobias and Ax even tried thought speak, but nothing, you refused to say anything."
"Sorry," Jake said again, looking a little ashamed. "But I was talking to-" Rachel broke him off.
"Who the hell could you be talking to inside your head?"
"The Ellimist." Jake said flatly. We all stared at him. Jake began again, "I was talking to him, he told me what's going on, he said that he and Crayak made a deal where Crayak could kill us, but only one of us. It was later decided that I was the one who had to decide who died and that I'd have to kill that person, only then would he let the others go free."
[What are we going to do, Prince Jake, did you come up with a plan with the Ellimist to get us all out of here?]
Jake looked down again, looking disgusted at himself.
"We're going to break out of here and kick David's ass aren't we?" Rachel asked, clearly not happy that Jake was being silent again.
"Jake?" Now it was my turn. "What are we going to do? How are we going to break out of here?"
He looked up at us again, looking at all of us one by one before answering. "We aren't." He replied frankly.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Come on buddy, don't go crazy on us now, we have to get out of here before one of us dies."
"I'm not joking, Marco." Jake rose his voice for the first time. "I spoke to the Ellimist, there is no other way out, you know how his deals work, one of us has to die. Has to."
"Then we should talk about it, figure out what to do." Rachel said, calming down.
"Jake." Cassie said, speaking up for the first time in awhile. "Please, tell us, tell us what to do."
Jake remained silent for a few seconds, quietly cursing himself under his breath.
"I have decided," He began. "That none of you deserve to die and that I can not look any of you in the eye and murder you, so I have decided to kill myself so that you can all go free." He said this with no emotion at all.
[That's crazy, man, you shouldn't die for one of us.] Tobias said, moving to the corner of his cage.
"It's the only way for you all to live, I thought it over, you don't need me. This is the only way."
Cassie was bawling now, "You shouldn't say that, we do need you. We all need you, I," She stopped for a second, looking a little embarrassed. "I need you, I do. Jake, I love you, I can't let you kill yourself for us."
"Listen to her, Jake," I said frantically. "Dude. we all need you, you're our leader, we would have died years ago without you. Come on man, listen to me, I've known you for most of our lives, believe me, we need you."
"So what?" He asked. "Do you all just expect me to kill one of you so I can save myself."
"Yes!" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Jake's head fell again, I know how much that hurt him to hear that he should kill one of us to save himself. "I mean, we should at least talk about it."
"There is nothing to talk about, I can't ask one of you to die for me. I-" This time Ax broke him off.
[Prince Jake,] He started, trying very hard to stand up, one of his legs was facing the wrong way, I can't imagine how much pain he must be in standing up like that. [Allow me to die in your place, it would be an honor to die in the place of my Prince. You are far too important for us to lose, Prince Jake, just say the word and I will let you kill me.]
This shocked all of us, except Jake, he looked like he knew this was going to happen. Of course he did, I thought. He's Jake, he knows all of us better than we know ourselves, he must have come up with everything each one of us would say and a counter to each as well. That's just how his mind works.
Jake turned to look at Ax. "No, Ax, the others need you, you're our expert on the Yeerks, plus," He said dryly. "Do you really think the Andalites would come rescue us if you weren't the one to contact them. Would they risk coming to Earth just to save us?"
[Then let me die, Jake. So you can live, you guys don't need me anymore. You must've thought of it already, I'm a hawk, I'm not that useful in a fight, plus I don't have anyone out there who cares about me anyway, unlike you.] Rachel snapped her head to look at him.
"How can you say that, Tobias?" Rachel looked like she was going to cry, which she never does. "How can you say that you don't have anyone who cares about you? What am I to you? I love you, you know that. We all care about you."
[You know that's not what I meant, Rachel. I know that you love me, I'm just saying that compared to the rest of you I won't be missed as much. The only people who even know that I'm alive are you guys.]
"No." Jake said, looking at Tobias. "I would never let any of you die for me. David will be here any minute, we can't keep arguing this. I have decided, I'm going to die."
"Jake." Cassie said weakly.
"Listen to me, everyone." Jake began. "I only have a few minutes to say goodbye before David gets here. Ax, how much time do we have?"
Ax sunk back to the ground. [We have three minutes.]
"Not much time, then I'll make this quick." He looked at each one of us. Then he began.
"Marco, you're my best friend, we've known each other forever, I, I…" He trailed off. "Sorry, I'm not good at this sort of thing. Tell my parents that I was killed by a random stranger, nothing can't know about David, especially Tom. Take care of my family and Cassie for me. You two mean the world to me, I'm sorry. Marco, after, after all of this go in my room and grab th-." I broke him off.
"I know, the red folder. You can trust me, I'll take care of it."
"What red folder?" Rachel asked, her eyebrow raised. "From the way you two are talking it sounds like your secret magazine stash." She was trying to take some tension out of the air, it didn't work.
Jake chuckled, "No, it's my last will and testimony, so to speak. Along with letters for the each of you and my parents. I wrote them years ago just in case the Yeerks managed to kill us or me one of these days." As Jake said this the realization struck the whole team at once. All of our hearts sunk.
"Tobias," Jake began again. "I'm sorry for ruining your life, everything is my fault, I just want to to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorr-"
[Don't apologize, Jake.] Tobias said, interrupting him. [I don't blame you for me being a hawk, it's my own fault, and something I have to live with for the last of my life.] Rachel looked at Tobias with tear-filled eyes.
"Ax?"
[Yes, Prince Jake?]
Jake smiled for a brief second. "How many times have I told you to not call me 'prince'?"
[More times than I can count, my Prince.]
"Well, Ax, I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do this, but as of now I am no longer your Prince, in a few minutes I'll die, as of now you no longer have to follow my orders or call me 'prince'."
Ax's face showed more emotion than I've ever seen before. [You will always be my Prince. After we have defeated the Yeerks I will make sure to have you made a full Prince. I will make sure your sacrifice will be remembered by all the free races across the galaxy for generations to come, for you are a hero who should be honored by all.]
"I don't want to be remembered, Ax. I'm no hero."
[You are a hero, Prince Jake, you are a great hero who should be remembered by everyone on your planet.]
"No, you're wrong, I'm no hero. I could never be a hero after all the things I've done. I've killed to many to be considered a hero."
"Pardon my french," I blurted out. "But bullshit. Jake, we are all to blame for what we have done, not just you. We are as guilty as you."
"But who will the world blame for all the death we've caused, me, not you. I'm your leader, and as leader I take responsibility for everything we have done."
I stopped arguing, we only had a minute left. Jake turned to Rachel. "Rachel I need you to promise me something."
Rachel looked like she was struggling not to burst out crying. "Whatever you need, Jake, anything you say."
"Promise me that you will protect the others, you are our warrior, they will need you. Protect Cassie for me, don't let anything happen to her. And promise me that you will not do anything too extreme to David when this is over. Promise me that."
"I'll try." Rachel couldn't hold it back anymore, she was crying her eyes out. So was I, Tobias and Ax can't cry but I knew that they were crying inside. As for Cassie, she looked like she was going to fall over, crying and shaking on the floor. I've known Jake the longest besides Rachel of course but I can't imagine what Cassie's going through right now, they love each other, and they just got enough guts to tell each other not too long ago. I know that she will never get over this.
Jake turned from Rachel to the unknown person besides him to Cassie. "Cassie, I know that you don't agree with my decision, that any of you do for that matter but it's the only way. Cassie, I wish I had hours to tell you how much I love you, not just a minute. Words cannot express how much I love you. I'm just sorry that it took me so long to tell you how I felt." Jake stretched out his hand as far as the chain would allow, Cassie did the same, they just managed to hold hands. We all stood there as Cassie reached her hand to me, I took it and reached to Ax, he held it and placed his other hand on Tobias' cage, as did Rachel, she looked at the unknown, unconscious person to her left.
"Take his hand," Jake said as he grabbed the stranger's hand. "You will find out who that is when David gets here."
We all stood in the circle holding each other's hands until David returned.
"Ah," He said, making a fake cutesy reaction. "Isn't that sweet? Their holding hands." He broke apart Jake and Cassie's hand and walked to the center of the room.
"Your time is up, Jake, now tell me, who's gonna die?"
Jake looked to the stranger on his right. "First remove the bag over his head, I want to see my brother before I die."
