a part of DragonSinger,
a Pern book (hehehe...I'll list what it
was in the end :). If you have read the
book you may see what I
mean towards the end. Warning: EXTREMELY
dark. Disclaimer:
ANIMORPHS was made up by Katherine
Alice Applegate, and
characters are owned by KA Applegate
and Scholastic and whoever
else owns the rights. This has nothing
to do with the TV show, so
there is no reference to Nickelodeon
(The lousy *censored*
station) and I'm not crediting them
with anything besides making
a real piece of filth. The part
that is from Anne McCaffery's
"Dragon singer" is used without
any permission, and I'm crediting
her with it right now.
The Aftermath
By:RB
Rachel stared at the computer
screen in front of her.
"Rachel?" Cassie said softly.
No response.
"Rachel!" Jake yelled. Still
no response.
Marco came up. "Any luck?"
He asked, though by the look on
their faces he knew there wasn't
any. He sighed. Rachel had
always been annoying, with her sarcastic
comments, but now-when
she was silent-was the worst of
all. Ever since the last
battle...
He exhaled silently. No one
and nothing was able to pierce
Rachel's armor. It had been going
on for ten months now. Cassie,
Jake, or himself always had to be
by her side, forcing her to
eat, bath, and sleep. Not even he
could make a joke about her
quietness.
Not that Marco didn't blame
Rachel for being like this. They
all had been depressed for a while
after that last battle...Marco
had lost his mother, Jake his brother,
and Cassie, her father.
With the realization that the yeerks
had lost Planet Earth,
something of them had been lost.
Not just the obvious. Ax had
gone back to the andalite home-world,
in dishonor. AX had been
blamed for giving the humans the
power, even though Elfangor had,
and saved Earth by it. Ax would
be "forgiven" and go back to his
training if for one condition: the
humans never morph again.
Never use the power. Marco gave
a snort. The high-and-mighty
Andalites had disgraced the best
warrior on their planet. He,
Cassie, and Jake used the power
sometimes, discreetly, and much
more rarely then they had when they
were teens. He sighed.
8 long years had passed since
they'd received the power. To
morph. To become any animal they
could choose. And almost a year
ago, the need had stopped. The yeerks
had been driven from Earth.
But two billion people had died.
Mostly human controllers...
though some innocent people. And
a billion more had gone insane
from the freedom...or just the loss
of family. Again, mostly
former human controllers...though
some free ones. And two members
from their tiny group had each gone
one path. Rachel to the
insane path. And Tobias to death.
The final battle...Marco
closed his mind to it. He didn't need
to put the pressure on Jake and
Cassie to take care of him too.
Jake and Cassie had gotten married
about 8 months ago, after
they'd all adjusted to their new
life. They let Rachel move in
with them, and then asked him. More
for the sake of having
someone else help take care of Rachel,
he supposed, then having a
"friend around to help out" as they
put it. And he'd probably
need to help out even more, seeing
as Cassie was in the final
stages of pregnancy.
"Marco!" A shout penetrated
his thoughts. It was Jake.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Cassie isn't feeling too
good. She wants to go lie down. Can
you watch Rachel for us?"
"Sure, buddy." He walked
over to where Rachel was sitting. "So,
Rachel, how's the computer game
going?"
No answer.
"Say, what game is that?
Jezzball?" (Author's note: I have the
weirdest and simplest computer games
around. Jezzball is one of
my favorites. So there. :-P)
No response.
"What level are you up to?
10?"
Nothing that would give even
a hint that she had heard him.
"RACHEL!" He yelled right
in her ear.
Nothing.
Marco was sick and tired
of this. He hated just seeing Rachel
sitting there, her blond hair limp,
her face pale, her blue eyes
completely focused on the game and
nothing else. One thing that
irked him the most was that Jake
and Cassie had ordered to NEVER
say the name, Tobias, in Rachel's
presence, thinking it would
hurt the open wound. He had tried
everything else. Now, if this
last try didn't work, nothing would.
"Rachel," he whispered. "I
know you are feeling bad about
Tobias." At the mention of the boy's
name,Rachel sat up straight
and looked at him. Like she had
never seen him before. "Tobias
wouldn't have wanted you like this.
You have got to wake up."
Rachel stood up, glaring
at him. Marco gulped. He had grown
taller since becoming an Animorph,
but Rachel still towered over
him. "What did you say?" she asked.
"I said that Tobias wouldn't
have wanted you like this." Marco
said, half glad that his plan had
worked, half frightened by this
girl.
"Like WHAT?" she asked.
"Like the living dead."
"You would be like the living
dead too if someone you...you
LOVED died! And you were helpless!"
Rachel's voice had rose
higher until the last word was almost
a shriek. "Tobias DIED! I
couldn't help him. Jake couldn't."
"Rachel," he said softly.
"I had to kill my own mother." She
looked around the room, disbelieving,
her face as blank as it had
been before until her eyes locked
on Marco's,and he could see the
emotion, the memories Rachel had
locked up break down the barrier
she had made from the look of horror
on her face.
"He died...She died...they
died...Sara!" she called. "Where are
you?...She died too. She's not here."
She looked around her. Then
her gaze fell on Marco. "Get away.
GET AWAY!!!!!!" she yelled at
him. At the same time,her cousin's
voice filled the air.
"Marco! Come in here! Cassie's
in labor!"
"But she's not due..." he
counted rapidly. The baby was a month
premature. He ran into the room,
leaving Rachel sobbing
hysterically on the bed in her room.
"Tobias...Sara...MOMMY!"
she called piteously.
Marco had no idea what had
happened. He never had blamed Rachel
for being in such an awful state...She
had lost both her mother
and her youngest sister...and her
other sister had moved to where
their dad lived...to get away from
the memories...but what had
been the hardest, he knew for Rachel,
was that Tobias had died.
They had always been the closest...even
closer then Jake and
Cassie. Not only by being good friends...not
even by being
boyfriend-girlfriend. Everyone in
the small group of Animorphs
had formed a bond...but Tobias's
and Rachel's had been even
closer then the others. Marco supposed
part of it had been when
Rachel was helping him through the
hardest stage of Tobias's
life-adjusting to being a bird.
He shook his head and ran into
Cassie's room, trying to clear his
mind.
PART TWO
How could this have happened,
I ask myself. How could Tobias,
Sara...my mom, my cousin Tom...Melissa's
parents...How could they
all be...DEAD?
I feel so awful. If only
I could have not gotten into that
fight with the three hork-bajir
and instead gone to protect
Tobias. His leopard morph, while
swift and deadly, was not
enough. The added help of a grizzly
could have stopped the fatal
blow...He could still be alive...If
only...
How can Cassie and Jake be
so happy together? Cassie's father
is dead...Jake's brother...How can
life go on, with so many
people dead?
I look wildly around the
room. It looks a bit like my old
room...there is a TV and computer...a
bed, and a bookshelf...a
lamp, a dresser...normal. Furnished
in blue and red and yellow
and brown...Tobias's and my colors.
It looks like the average 21
year old's apartment. But it's not.
For one, there is always
someone in there with me. Not now.
For the first time...I feel
like screaming. I am the only person
in the room. Marco left. I
remember him. I remember what he
had to do...in the last battle.
Memories...They flooded me suddenly....and
then there I was...
We were prepared. We KNEW this
would be the last battle. The
andalites had come. The people on
Earth knew. But this last
battle...between Visser One...Visser
Three...and us. The
Animorphs. We were tense. If we
lost this battle...I blocked the
thought. So many of our friends,
our relatives were already dead.
"Okay everyone," Jake's voice.
"Let's morph."
I focused my mind on the grizzly
bear. Looking back...I think I
should have used my elephant. But
my grizzly is immensely
powerful. No land animal can kill
it. The morph started quickly.
I grew to a height of about eight
feet. Rough, shaggy brown fur
covered me. My fingers shriveled
to iron sharp claws. my teeth
itched as stronger grizzly teeth
took place of my patheticly week
human teeth. My nose and ears both
grew. My eyes grew weaker.
This animal didn't depend on sight.
Like most other animals, it
used its ears and nose to realize
what was around it.
I knew what changes were going
throught the others. Jake, in his
tiger morph,had dropped to all fours,
with claws and teeth, that,
while not as powerful as mine, was
incredibly fast. Cassie had
changed to a wolf, with ears and
nose to rival mine, and teeth
that could bite through the throat
of a struggling deer. Marco
had changed to a gorilla, with powerful
arms that could literally
pick up 300 or 400 pounds of weight.
Ax had demorphed to his
normal andalite shape, with a wickedly
sharp tail blade. And
Tobias...Tobias had black dots on
his yellow fur. He had grown in
length and strength so instead of
his normal hawk body, he had
become a leopard. He almost looked
like a smaller version of
Jake. We had all become different
animals. The Animorphs.
The yeerks were in the room.
We were only seperated by an
invisible barrier.And I charged
it first.
WHAM! It hurt. It was like
an invisble shield...Marco came and
joined me at trying to crack it.
Then, a taxxon fired a dracon
beam! It pierced the shield and
almost burned my fur.
< Okay, I'm mad now. >
I said. Then, I rammed myself through the
barrier and ran through it. I guess
the dracon beam melted the
shield, because I ran straight through
right into about 20 horks.
Marco and Tobias were right next
to me, while Jake, Cassie, and
Ax were behind us.
The next few minutes were
a whirlwind of violence, blood, and
memories so painful...my claws raking
a hork-bajir across the
face...Cassie, in her wolf morph,
biting and trying to get out of
the circle of horks that surrounded
her...Ax slicing anything
that was in reach...Jake and Marco
and Tobias and myself teamed
up into pairs...it worked, for a
while. Then, for some reason,
Tobias was seperated from me.
< Tobias!!! > I called
and looked around.
< Rachel... > he answered.
< Help... >
I looked around. Then, even
with the grizzlies weak eyesight, I
saw it. Tobias surrounded by too
many hork bajir, helpless. And
in the center were the Vissers One
and Three.
< Ah, my precious "Animorph",
> Visser Three said. < Visser One,
would you like to help me finish
it off? >
"Of course," Visser One answered
cruelly.
< TOBIAS! > I yelled.
< Everyone, come! > The other Animorphs all
tried to run closer...But it was
too late. Visser One fired her
dracon beam at the same instant
Visser Three aimed his tail...I
ran ful, out, but got there a split
second too late to stop
them...but I was there. I witnessed.
< Tobias! > I cried.
< Rachel... > he answered
weakly. < Rachel...you know...I... >
I was crying as I watched
him, feebly trying to stay alive.
He
paused,
and I was vaguely aware of a battle
going on. < Rachel...fight...
make sure...they don't...come here.
Live...for when there is
life...there is hope. > Tobias gave
a little sigh and stopped
talking.
< Tobias!!!! > I cried.
< TOBIAS!!!!!!!!Don't leave me ALONE!!! >
No answer. Some hork-bajir
CREEP tried to slice me. I rammed
one paw into his chest. He died
instantly.
< You piece of filth,
> I yelled. I grabbed Tobias's dead body
with one hand and started to walk
out from the battle. As soon as
I'd gotten out, I demorphed and
cried. I looked at Tobias's dead
leopard body. He was dead. Dead.
About a half hour later the
remaining Animorphs came out and
demorphed, looking tired. Marco
seemed especially uptight. When I
asked why, he first pointed at the
dead body I'd dragged out, and
then yelled something abou having
to kill his mother.
Cassie later told me it was
very dramatic, Marco had first
kissed his mothers body,told her
he loved her, then hugged her so
hard she died. Deadly hugs. Not
like something I'd shared...
I woke up from my trance.
For the past ten months, I'd been in
a state past feeling, past thinking,
past caring. And playing a
stupid game like Jezzball that I
can't even get past the seventh
level!
I heard a noise. Cassie panting.
She sounded hurt. I jumped up
from my chair and ran into Cassie's
and Jakes bedroom. It was
nice, I noted. Cassie was lying
on their bed, panting hard. Of
course...my mind said. She's having
a baby. And she is having
problems.
I looked at her, straight
in the eyes. "Cassie," I said softly.
"Cassie, its me. Rachel."
Marco and Jake looked at
me in surprise. I paid no attention.
"Cassie," I said. "You can do it.
Focus, girl. Remember what you
said when we were morphing? You
can do it. Breathe."
A few minutes later, I spotted
the head. "It's almost there," I
told her. "Push!"
One last push, and the baby
came out. It took its first breath.
Just like Tobias had taken his last.
Jake, who was the closest
thing to being a doctor here, slowly
looked at the little baby in
his arms. "It's a boy..." He whispered.
"I'm a father..." I will
never forget the look on his face.
It was glowing with hopes and
dreams for his son.
I suppose we all had the
same looks on our faces. Of pride, of
hope, and...of caring.
"What are you going to name
him?" Marco asked the new parents.
But it was I who answered
for them. "Tobias."
"Our son," Jake and Cassie
said together.
"My first cousin once removed,"
I said.
"My friend." Marco said.
I looked at him, not sure
of whom he meant.
"Both," He amended.
"Tobias Aximili Elfangor
__________" Jake said proudly, looking
at his son who he held in his arms.
(Heh...Anothers authors
note...What did you THINK, I was
going to name Jake's last name?)
"A new beginning in the aftermath,"
I whspered to myself.
PART THREE
I grinned at Cassie. All
four of us Animorphs were watching
Tobias's first steps. I felt proud
watching my sons first
steps...right to Rachel. When he
finally reached her, he landed
on his butt. Cassie giggled watching
Tobias's antics. Rachel
picked him up and gave him a hug.
The sunlight shown in the yard.
Marco yelled "Take Two!" Marco had
made himself the offical video
taker, taking pictures and videos
of everything that Tobias did.
We'd all changed so much
after his birth. Marco had regained
some of his sense of humor, which
had been dangerously low,
although he was never exactly the
same. Cassie and I were happier
then we had been since the war started.
Rachel? Well, she wasn't
a vegetable anymore. She wasn't
her old self either. A lot of the
time she would be humming a strange
tune I didn't recognize.
Cassie took Tobias from Rachel.
"It's time for your food." she
told him, and headed inside. Tobias
gurgled happily.
"Ah, the lovely feeding of
creamed corn. C'mon Tobias, you can
break your old record for creamed
spinach on the ceiling today!"
Marco followed them.
Rachel gazed around the sunlit
yard, humming that tune.
"Hey, Rachel, can I ask you
something?"
"Sure, Jake," she answered.
"You know that tune you are
always humming? What are the
words?" I asked.
"There aren't any real words...Tobias
would hum
it...and...while I was in my...depression,"
Her voice was very
low. "I made up words to it."
"Can I hear them?" I asked.
"Sure. Here they are:
Don't leave me
alone,
The cry in the
night
Of anguished
heart breaking
Of soul killing
fright
Live for my living
Or else I must
die
Don't leave me
alone
The world heard
that cry.
"I'm afraid it isn't
very good," she said. "It's just...when I
sing or hum the words...when I'm
not with Little Toby..." her
voice trailed off for a second.
"I feel like...like...Tobias is
closer to me. Like he's watching
me or something. Does that make
any sense?" she asked.
I squeezed her hand.
"Yes it does."
THE END