Afterwards (Marco/Rachel)
Title: Afterwards
Pairing: Marco/Rachel
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Animorphs is the property of K.A. Applegate. This fanfic is a derivative of canon material that is not my property. I do not profit from these writings. The opinions and actions expressed in these stories are not necessarily the views and beliefs of the original author or me.
Wordcount: 956
Note: Spoilers for character death. Yeah, that one. Post-series fic.
Excerpt: So Tobias and Ax could have the Bachelor Pad of the Weirdo Heroes and Rachel could catch the bouquet at Jake and Cassie's wedding, and then our lives would really begin and we could start pretending that the past few years never happened.
I always sort of thought we'd end up together.
It just made sense to me. She was beautiful, I was funny. Sure, there wasn't a lot of time for the romantic thing right now (how Jake and Cassie managed to spend so much time looking at each other like that and still kept the team together, I don't know), but I thought, you know, in the future, when all of this was done...
The simplest thing would be to say, let's go to a movie. Our job is done, the world is saved, and I think it owes us a summer blockbuster. Maybe even popcorn. And I'd say, let's all go. But Ax and Tobias, well, they can't really sit through a movie without distracting other patrons halfway through, right? So it would be just me and Rachel and Jake and Cassie. And of course, Jake would have his arm around Cassie or I'd have his head for cowardice.
We'd watch some sort of horror bloodbath and afterwards in Starbucks I would recount it in bloody detail, until Cassie would get all pale and Jake would have to take her home and "comfort" her, right? So it would be just me and Rachel.
We would look good together, you know.
And she would get fed up with all the blood-talk-- I don't think she likes blood much, just deals with it in order to do the job-- and ask me to stop, and I'd say there is only one way to stop me from talking, and that is a kiss.
And she would kiss me and that would be how it would go. The American public would be so grateful that they wouldn't have to build us separate mansions that we'd get a lovely parade instead.
I mean, when you think about it, what sort of relationship could she and Hawk Boy have had, anyway? Tobias, he's a great guy, but he's sort of more hawk than... guy, you know. Worse now even than he was then. What could she have done? He could have shifted into a human and left his hawk behind forever, but I know he wouldn't do it. It's in his blood now. Even in human form he squints meanly at small mammals. And Rachel could, I suppose, have shifted into a red-tailed form and left it there, but I really can't imagine her as a bird. No hair to take care of. Not to say that she was that shallow, but Rachel-- she liked being human. She burned with life. She wouldn't be content to hang out in the forest and raise hawk chicks, not my girl.
So Tobias and Ax could have the Bachelor Pad of the Weirdo Heroes and Rachel could catch the bouquet at Jake and Cassie's wedding, and then our lives would really begin and we could start pretending that the past few years never happened (which is still my goal in life that I am not really any closer to achieving, despite the mansion and the cars and Wetherbee).
But it didn't exactly work out, of course. We were fighting a war. And somehow there had been no casualties, to a point. There were... there were casualties. There were hard bits. But we were all still together. We knew each other's minds even better than we knew our own. Near the end there-- heck, near the middle-- if Jake told me to jump off a building because it would further the mission, and not to morph before I hit the ground-- I would have. I know I would have.
I can't exactly trust him like that anymore, though I know that he has just as hard of a time with it as I do. Still, you know...
My mom bought me some books when everything settled down a little. How-to-grieve books. Losing a family member. Rachel was family, even if I was in love with her. The books didn't really help, but they did mention that sometimes close-knit families, they just sort of fall apart when they lose someone. I think that's what happened with Jake and me. I haven't seen him for months, not since the talk-show circuit died back again.
There were a lot of talk shows in the beginning. I told the story until it felt like I was writing a book. Of course, telling someone the story isn't anything like experiencing it. Even when you don't want to, you leave bits out. Sometimes you leave parts out because you want to.
Because how could I get up there and tell Leno that I'd been in love with Rachel? I couldn't. I'd never told anyone. Cassie would never talk to me again. Jake would lose his temper and tell me to take life seriously for once.
I've spent so long playing the joker that I could never convince them of the truth, so I won't try. I have a girlfriend. I have my own TV show. I have the new American dream.
So why am I morphing to lobster to crawl around the bottom of my own pool?
I think it's because there is change in the air and maybe I'm not ready to lose Rachel all over again.
Pairing: Marco/Rachel
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Animorphs is the property of K.A. Applegate. This fanfic is a derivative of canon material that is not my property. I do not profit from these writings. The opinions and actions expressed in these stories are not necessarily the views and beliefs of the original author or me.
Wordcount: 956
Note: Spoilers for character death. Yeah, that one. Post-series fic.
Excerpt: So Tobias and Ax could have the Bachelor Pad of the Weirdo Heroes and Rachel could catch the bouquet at Jake and Cassie's wedding, and then our lives would really begin and we could start pretending that the past few years never happened.
I always sort of thought we'd end up together.
It just made sense to me. She was beautiful, I was funny. Sure, there wasn't a lot of time for the romantic thing right now (how Jake and Cassie managed to spend so much time looking at each other like that and still kept the team together, I don't know), but I thought, you know, in the future, when all of this was done...
The simplest thing would be to say, let's go to a movie. Our job is done, the world is saved, and I think it owes us a summer blockbuster. Maybe even popcorn. And I'd say, let's all go. But Ax and Tobias, well, they can't really sit through a movie without distracting other patrons halfway through, right? So it would be just me and Rachel and Jake and Cassie. And of course, Jake would have his arm around Cassie or I'd have his head for cowardice.
We'd watch some sort of horror bloodbath and afterwards in Starbucks I would recount it in bloody detail, until Cassie would get all pale and Jake would have to take her home and "comfort" her, right? So it would be just me and Rachel.
We would look good together, you know.
And she would get fed up with all the blood-talk-- I don't think she likes blood much, just deals with it in order to do the job-- and ask me to stop, and I'd say there is only one way to stop me from talking, and that is a kiss.
And she would kiss me and that would be how it would go. The American public would be so grateful that they wouldn't have to build us separate mansions that we'd get a lovely parade instead.
I mean, when you think about it, what sort of relationship could she and Hawk Boy have had, anyway? Tobias, he's a great guy, but he's sort of more hawk than... guy, you know. Worse now even than he was then. What could she have done? He could have shifted into a human and left his hawk behind forever, but I know he wouldn't do it. It's in his blood now. Even in human form he squints meanly at small mammals. And Rachel could, I suppose, have shifted into a red-tailed form and left it there, but I really can't imagine her as a bird. No hair to take care of. Not to say that she was that shallow, but Rachel-- she liked being human. She burned with life. She wouldn't be content to hang out in the forest and raise hawk chicks, not my girl.
So Tobias and Ax could have the Bachelor Pad of the Weirdo Heroes and Rachel could catch the bouquet at Jake and Cassie's wedding, and then our lives would really begin and we could start pretending that the past few years never happened (which is still my goal in life that I am not really any closer to achieving, despite the mansion and the cars and Wetherbee).
But it didn't exactly work out, of course. We were fighting a war. And somehow there had been no casualties, to a point. There were... there were casualties. There were hard bits. But we were all still together. We knew each other's minds even better than we knew our own. Near the end there-- heck, near the middle-- if Jake told me to jump off a building because it would further the mission, and not to morph before I hit the ground-- I would have. I know I would have.
I can't exactly trust him like that anymore, though I know that he has just as hard of a time with it as I do. Still, you know...
My mom bought me some books when everything settled down a little. How-to-grieve books. Losing a family member. Rachel was family, even if I was in love with her. The books didn't really help, but they did mention that sometimes close-knit families, they just sort of fall apart when they lose someone. I think that's what happened with Jake and me. I haven't seen him for months, not since the talk-show circuit died back again.
There were a lot of talk shows in the beginning. I told the story until it felt like I was writing a book. Of course, telling someone the story isn't anything like experiencing it. Even when you don't want to, you leave bits out. Sometimes you leave parts out because you want to.
Because how could I get up there and tell Leno that I'd been in love with Rachel? I couldn't. I'd never told anyone. Cassie would never talk to me again. Jake would lose his temper and tell me to take life seriously for once.
I've spent so long playing the joker that I could never convince them of the truth, so I won't try. I have a girlfriend. I have my own TV show. I have the new American dream.
So why am I morphing to lobster to crawl around the bottom of my own pool?
I think it's because there is change in the air and maybe I'm not ready to lose Rachel all over again.