dear_mun | AUs are fun; voice test; probably apping to Distant Skies

[ Tobias shuffles his back legs, hooves skittering lightly as he shifts his weight. ]

< It wasn't mine, either, when m--Elfangor landed here and asked us to help. None of us asked to be involved from the start, but we were. I'm sorry about what happened to you and your family, but it's part of what happened and I can't change it any more than I can go back and stop myself from taking the powers I was offered. >

[ The mention of Rachel doesn't surprise him, but it is a bit of a blow. He tries not to think of her too much. Tries to put her death in the back of his mind. One stalk eye turns towards David, three now focused on him. ]

< No. I don't think she wanted to talk about it. >

[ There were a lot of things he and Rachel hadn't talked about, to be honest. ]

Edited 2012-07-16 18:16 (UTC)

[David sneers at that, his lip curling in contempt.]

Don't lie to me. Maybe it wasn't your choice to get the powers in the first place, but it was your choice to fight. Just like the others. You and the others, you just got off on the power. Animorphs. [He twists the word like it's something filthy.] If the war really is over, you and the others ought to hang for war crimes.

[He eyes that alien face intently, looking for some sign of hurt or pain. Something that would give him an advantage in the war of words. To his disappointment there is none - at least none he can see.]

Probably not. I mean, if Big Jake knew the deal she almost took, he'd fall on his sword. You think I should tell him when I find him? Just to see the look on his face?

< Maybe. We did things I don't like to think about. But we won, so they call us heroes and it's the Yeerks going on trial. I like to think we were better than them, though. At least on some level. Stopping them from enslaving the human race seems like a noble enough goal. >

[ He stares back at David, eyes narrowed as he studies him. ]

< I did chose to fight. I'd probably chose to fight again if I had to do it all over. I don't think there's a good alternative between fighting and watching your species get enslaved. >

[ His species. Not so much anymore. He pauses, looking a little surprised at David's words. Deal? What could he be talking about it? ]

< What deal? >

Oh, so you don't know.

[A slow, cruel grin begins to form on David's face.]

That just makes this so much better, really. I mean, I know you probably think Rachel was your warrior queen in shining armor. And then she came this close to agreeing to kill Jake.

[He watches Tobias eagerly, waiting to see the other's reaction.]

Really, you guys think I'm the traitor, but if you'd seen the way she was getting off on that power, you'd drive a stake through her black heart so fast you'd get whiplash.

[ Tobias' reaction might not be quite what David was expecting. There's no flash of anger, no protestation that David is lying. Just a sad, resigned huff, a slump of shoulders as Tobias closes his main eyes for a moment. Rachel had always been close to the edge, eager to embrace the thrill she got in battle. Finally, his eyes open again. ]

< She didn't though, did she? >

[ His 'voice' is quiet, but almost triumphant. Vindicated, but also sad and melancholy. ]

< She didn't, and in the end she was the most loyal soldier Jake could have asked for. >

[Tobias' reaction isn't what he was expected, and it wipes the mean little grin off his face as suddenly as a lightbulb blowing. He was expecting Tobias to erupt in fury or defend Rachel - something emotional that would put him off balances and give control back to David. But instead he gets... this. Nothing he can use, and nothing that really even means anything to him.]

Do you even get what I'm telling you? It was Crayak who approached her. Crayak who offered to give her power, just like he got me off the island.

[Of course, Crayak had also promised him more, but he hadn't come through. Something else had.]

She was no soldier. She was a psycho and that's all she was. A mad dog Jake put on a leash.

< Of course it was Crayak. It's always him or the Ellimist playing with us, isn't it? >

[ Tobias is even more resigned speaking about those two. He just hopes that he's done with them both. Maybe he'll be able to keep out of their machinations for the rest of his life. ]

< And you don't get it either. Rachel was loyal. She didn't take it, and that's all that matters to me. Because in the end she did what she had to do and followed Jake's orders, even. . . >

[ He trails off. It's still painful, even after a couple years. Rachel had helped to keep him together through the entire war and to lose her at the very end like that hadn't seemed fair. But the good guys don't always get to ride off into the sunset together. ]

< Even at the very end. And maybe she was a psycho. Maybe we were all psychos. We had to be. >

[It's that part at the end that makes David snap. We had to be. His eyes widen, and before he even knows what he's doing he's shoving past that tail blade, moving to grab Tobias's weak Andalite shoulders, eyes wide, yelling.]

Don't say that! Don't you even dare say that to me, Tobias!

[He continues, heedless of the threat of having his head removed from his shoulders. He's past caring.]

You had a choice! You all had a choice! I didn't! You took my home! You took my parents! You took my life!

[ Tobias is caught off guard, hadn't expected David to actually lunge forward like that. His tail blade snaps forward, hitting only air. He stumbles back as David grabs him, flailing. He pushes at the human, inwardly cursing the Andalites lack of upper body strength. ]

< Get off! >

[ His tail blade swings around again--but at the last minute it's the flat that smacks David across the head as Tobias tries to struggle free. ]

< You don't get it! We didn't understand what we were getting into! We were all just dumb, scared kids. Just like you. Once we started we couldn't stop! We had to keep going, because there was no one else and Elfangor knew what he was getting us into. He had to. But he did it anyway. He gave it to a bunch of scared teenagers because he didn't have anyone else to try and hand it off to before he died. >

[ He's angry now, body trembling as he glares at David. ]

< You think you're the only one that lost people? The only one that lost everything? What about Jake's life? Or Tom's? Or Rachel?! This was bigger than all of us! >

[David's shaking Tobias back and forth, not even noticing the tail blade that snaps past his head. He feels those scrawny Andalite arms shoving at him and ignores them.]

Don't you get it? None of you had any right to take that from me!

[His ranting's cut short when that tail blade comes around a second time, and this time it nails him. Nervelessly he lets go of the human-turned-Andalite's shoulders and crumples to the ground on his back, stunned but not unconscious.]

What about Jake or Tom or Rachel? They didn't lose... weren't alone...

[The twisted hate's given way to dazed confusion, and he stares up at Tobias saucer-eyed. He has no idea what he's talking about. He can barely even comprehend what he's saying. His head's swimming.]

[ Tobias cups his face in his hands, taking in a deep shuddering breath before he can start to reply. This is getting out of hand. ]

< We didn't want to. We didn't have any choice, though. >

[ He sways slightly on his feet, looking down at David now. ]

< Jake lost both of them at the end of it. He killed both of them and he knows it. >

[ Tobias is surprised by his own anger. The sheer amount of blame and pain that's directed toward Jake. Things he hadn't thought about. Wouldn't think about. ]

< We're all messed up, David. Every single one. >

[Lying sprawled on his back, David can only blink stupidly at that bombshell. He wants to say something to it, but he can't remember what. Then he can't remember what Tobias had said.]

... What?

[Then it comes back to him. Jake killed them. Tom. Rachel. And he knows it.]

No... no, that can't be right...

[He'd hated Jake, resented him, and yes, feared him, but even he can't believe that. Jake would die before he killed his brother or his cousin. Not possible.]

Edited 2012-07-17 22:37 (UTC)

< It's true. >

[ And Tobias wishes bitterly that it weren't, but you can't change what has happened. Unless you're the Ellimist, and even then... ]

< The last battle. The one that won the war. He sent her to kill Tom and the Yeerk controlling him. And she went, even though she knew that it was a suicide mission. >

[ Tobias is bitter and it comes out in his voice. ]

< So we won. And I left. >

[Awkwardly David sits up, trying to process that. He wants to believe it's a lie, some ridiculous story to protect Rachel. But he knows it's not.]

... so the war's really over then. You won.

[His face falls as the words leave his lips. Rachel's dead. There'll be no revenge for what she did, no epic final showdown. There'll be no settling things with her, or any of them. If they won, they're heroes. Saviors of the world.]

If you won, then it's over. All of it. Except this. Except me.

[ Tobias can't help but feel a twinge of pity. He knows how David must feel. Alone, isolated. No one left to care about him. ]

< Your parents might still be alive. Go home. Go back to them and forget about us. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you were ever involved in this. >

[David laughs, but there's no humor in the sound. It's broken, and desperate, and a little insane.]

You're as bad as Rachel. You think I can just go back to what I was and that'll be the end of it. But no one can go back to what they were. Not me, not you, not anyone.

[ He just looks back at David and gives an assenting nod. David speaks truth. ]

< You're right. None of us can. We're all changed, for better or worse. Some of us more than the others. >

[David doesn't move to get up. He just looks up at the Andalite and slowly spreads his hands.]

So go on then. You're the predator, right? Or whatever you are now. Hawk, soldier. It doesn't matter. They deal with threats the same way.

[ Tobias just shakes his head. ]

< No. No, I'm tired of war and killing and destruction. I just want to go back to Aximili, my students and my scoop and be left alone for the rest of my life. No more Yeerks. No more Ellimist. No more Jake. >

[ He pauses, a hint of subdued, sad amusement in his tone. ]

< Besides, I eat grass now. >

[David doesn't see what's funny. He clenches his teeth.]

And what if I say I'll kill Ax and your students and anyone else you care about if you don't? What'll you do then?

< How? You can't get to them. Ax is a Prince with more warriors around him than you could hope to defeat before someone takes a shredder beam to you. You don't have a ship to take you off Earth. Unless Crayak decides to help you for some reason, there's nothing you can do to hurt me any longer. Maybe Jake will oblige your death wish. >

[ Tobias snaps at David, angry that he'd try to browbeat him into killing. ]

You don't know what I can do. I have my morphing. You really think I can't get of Earth if I want to?

[He pulls himself to his feet now, glaring at Tobias furiously.]

Are you really that much of a coward? You should have killed me when you had the chance. You all should have. But you couldn't do it. And then Rachel couldn't either. If you don't kill me, I'll find a way to make you wish you had. I swear. So do it. Just do what you should've done from the start.

< I think you could. But I don't think you could actually find and kill any of these people. >

[ Tobias stares back. ]

< If you want to die that badly, morph something small and tasty and go hop around a meadow until something decides you're a good snack. Or does it have to be one of us to vindicate you? To make you the ultimate victim in all of this? >

[ Tobias shakes his head. ]

< That's what it is, isn't it? You don't just want to die. You want one of us to kill you, to make you the poor victim of the big, bad Animorphs. >

You think if it were that easy I wouldn't be dead a million times over by now?

[David's on his feet now, though unsteadily.]

You wouldn't understand. You can't understand. You were a hawk. You got to fly and claim your own territory and prey on things like me. You weren't trapped. You had the others.You had everything you wanted.

[David spits on the ground near Tobias's hoof.]

You want to look down on me? That's what I think of you looking down on me. You took everything. And then you couldn't even end it quick, you had to trap me in a living hell. There's nothing for me, don't you get that?! Nothing on Earth. Nothing anywhere.

< If you really wanted to be dead, you'd be dead, David. >

[ Tobias shakes his head, jerks his hoof backwards as David spits at him. ]

< Then build something! Or leave! There's nothing I can do to fix what happened to you. >

[ He looks downcast for a moment. ]

< I'm just tired of killing. I'm used to it, but I don't think I want to do it any longer. Not to other people. >

AUs are fun; voice test; probably apping to Distant Skies

Re: Sounds good!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)