Day 56: Twin Pines Restaurant (Noon)

[scarletspeedstr]

Okay, so it had taken a little longer than Wally had thought, but eventually he'd found the restaurant he'd been aiming for and gotten himself inside and settled with a pot of coffee and what would hopefully be a steaming hot meal on the way pretty soon. He'd picked a seat next to the window so he could look out at the snow, feeling a little

Comments

[moarnomsplz]

Ax found the restaurant where he was to meet the person who was, presumably, from his world, and he could not deny that he was feeling the human effects of nervousness. He did not know what to expect. He thought that if it had been someone who knew him, he would have been able to tell. The only way Prince Jake and his human friends would have known about Sario rips would have been from Ax, and they would not have lied about where they learned the information

[exterrabang]

Elfangor approached the restaurant at a swift gait, eyes alert for anyone matching the description of the young person--a child, really--whom he intended to meet. Once again, he found himself desperately wishing for his stalk eyes, but as soon as the thought struck him he was certain that this person surely must be feeling the same way, and that alone helped him relax. Marginally. He was still feeling decidedly tense as he pushed open the door, and that was when he spotted him.

"Hello." He felt compelled to thrust out his hand in greeting in the way that humans do, but thought better of it. It was entirely too likely that this person, if they truly were a fellow Andalite, would only be appalled at the notion of touching another so casually. "I hope I have not kept you waiting for very long."

[moarnomsplz]

"No, not very long. Long-guh." The human (except that he was not, Ax was sure) male who greeted him looked like a normal adult, but this did not mean anything. Ax could pass perfectly for a human teenager, after all, but he still felt an urge, which he curbed, to take a step back as if readying for combat with the tail he no longer had.

He was somewhat comforted by the knowledge that if there were a Yeerk here, they would have been made human as well, and Ax would be in no danger from them, except for the information they could try to extract from him. He was more than equal to that challenge, and, thinking this, he stood self-consciously to his full human height. "My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Ist-hill. What is yours?"

[exterrabang]

"Aximili?"

He couldn't breathe. His eyes burned. Oh god, Aximili was here. Elfangor could not have possibly checked his relief in that moment to know his brother was safe--comparatively safe, he mentally amended, because the battle hard turned, his brother still aboard the Dome Ship, and he'd known what would happen, what had to happen if the ship was to have any chance at maneuvering. The dome would have been ejected, left for an easy target among Yeerk fire, and even if they did not fire upon it, the odds of burning up in atmosphere...

But he was here, with him. Here, whole, safe. Inexplicably human, but oh, that hardly mattered, and before Elfangor could give it another thought, he flung his arms around his little brother and pulled him into a hug

[moarnomsplz]

Ax stiffened instinctively at the unexpected contact.

And then it did not matter at all, at the next words he heard, and he thought his human eyes were likely to start leaking water. Certainly his mouthparts did not feel as if they would reliably work, and he stammered when he tried to speak. "My-- my prince--" No, it was too formal, he couldn't bear it. "Elfangor, big brother, how--? I thought. Thaw, thought. Thought you were dead." He had been certain Elfangor was dead, had heard it directly from the people who had been with him, and yet... Here he was.

Ax stared, and could not believe this was a trick, not when he could clearly read the joy in his brother's--his brother's--eyes, as surely as if they had been the eyes he knew almost as well as his own, and not a human version of them, and from the way Elfangor spoke, it sounded as if he had had a human form before now, but Ax had never heard of him visiting Earth for long enough to acquire one

[exterrabang]

Overjoyed as he was to have found his brother in this strange place, his words were like a siren clamoring in his ears.

Dead... joined humans in their fight...

How? How could this be? But there was only one possible answer, and it sent chill through Elfangor. If enough time had passed for Aximili to have sent a distress call and been rescued from the depths of the ocean, to have joined with those five human children as the Ellimist had once shown him would come to pass--then they must have been brought to this place, whatever it may be, from different points in time. He has had his share of inadvertently traveling through time, he knew that such things were far from impossible.

And it meant that he had failed. Failed to get to the Time Matrix, must have-- must have died in his efforts.

He needed to know how it happened. Oh, he knew he shouldn't ask, knew that knowing could have unforeseen repercussions, but that hardly mattered now. "Aximili... The last thing I recall before finding myself here is engaging in battle above Earth.

[moarnomsplz]

"That was..." Ax hesitated, ducking his head as a substitute for twisting his stalk eyes down. He did not know what effect it could have if he revealed events to Elfangor that were still in his future. Ax had not paid very much attention to the finer points of time travel, and he was beginning to doubt this situation truly fit the definition.

But this was his brother and his prince; he could hardly keep the information from him. "That was only, own-lee, moments after the last time I saw you." He glanced up. "I do not think we should discuss it until we are ser, certain no one will overhear." He began walking toward an unoccupied table away from most of the humans. Caution was only sensible, but Ax also wanted to gain some time to order his thoughts. He had too many questions, far too many of which could not be answered, and too many things he needed to decide how to explain. If he explained them. He could not have said with any confidence that he had always behaved as his brother would have wished him to

[exterrabang]

Elfangor frowned slightly at what was clearly an attempt to delay an awkward (and likely painful) conversation, but he had to admit that it was wiser--safer--to be cautious, and he followed Aximili toward the table.

But once they were out of immediate hearing range of anyone else, he pitched his voice low so as not to allow it to carry and he prodded, "How much time had passed between... then, and the point you were taken from? And how is it that humans fight Yeerks?" His thoughts drifted to Loren, and how she had annihilated that Mortron with a softball bat, but that had been a... unique situation.

Then again, so was this, regardless of the details of it. And from the way Aximili was fidgeting, Elfangor got the distinct impression that his bid for the Time Matrix must have been irrevocably tied up in this. Whatever this was.

[moarnomsplz]

Sitting in a human body was almost second nature to Ax by now, and he bent his two legs as necessary to maneuver himself into resting his weight on the deposits of fat humans carried at the tops of their legs. He was rather proud of having executed this procedure neatly, though the pride was short-lived. Did Elfangor truly not know? It was only logical he would not, Ax realized, in the next instant. Elfangor had not gotten there yet

[exterrabang]

Elfangor all but sprawled in his seat, with the careless ease that came from years of adjustment to a human form, and crossed his arms over the table, staring at Aximili. When he said that he had done it, that he'd given them the morphing ability, he... wasn't exactly shocked. No, he'd bent the laws too many times to ever think himself incapable of breaking even this, Seerow's Kindness, one of the highest laws. But more than that, it must have been necessary. Why--

But then, he knew. He must not have been able to get to the Time Matrix for some reason. Perhaps he'd been injured. Certainly Esplin, that damned Yeerk must have pursued him. Maybe he'd run out of time, out of options. And if these humans were the five that the Ellimist had shown him... his son among them. Oh god. Yes, he knew with a sharp clarity that he absolutely would have given them the morphing technology, would have given them the opportunity to defend their planet where the supposed mighty Andalites (he mentally sneered) had failed.

But then, Aximili said that.

[moarnomsplz]

"You--" Ax felt as if he had forgotten everything he had ever known about human mouthparts, and could no longer make them operate correctly. His brother a deserter? ...a coward? He could not believe it, and yet Elfangor admitted he had run away, in a tone Ax had recognized as defiant, expecting a reaction such as this. "Wuh-- wa-- Why? Why would, would you do that?"

He could not imagine what else his brother could have done that would have been terrible enough for the Council to hide it away, to pretend it had not happened. He did not know what else to say. Ax had been trying, and failing, to live up to Elfangor's reputation for as long as he could remember; he had become resigned to the fact that he would not, and that the best he could hope for was not to embarrass himself too badly in comparison. Had given up even that hope for his brother's sake, and now Elfangor himself was saying it had not been necessary.

The people need heroes in this endless war, Lirem had told Ax. Had he known, been party to a far greater deception than

[exterrabang]

His defensiveness that was just short of indignation diffused in the face of Aximili's distress, giving way to regret for having intentionally antagonized his brother in such a harsh manner. Elfangor sighed, raking a hand back through his hair--a gesture of frustration he had picked up as a human. "I did it because it was the only option I had at the time. I came to possess a terrible weapon, and I could not allow our military to use it. I would have liked to think that they would have had scruples enough to not use it, but I could not hold such blind faith in our leaders. Not after discovering that they had used a quantum virus on the Hork-Bajir world." Part of him rebelled against telling Aximili of this, but he had to. It was not right for him to continue to think their people incapable of such horrendous deeds, not when their actions had created so much devastation.

Still, it was sobering enough that he averted his eyes. Elfangor stared down at his hands as he continued, "So I ran away. I lived on Earth. I embraced becoming a

[moarnomsplz]

A quantum virus? It was absolutely unthinkable, the sort of depths to which Yeerks would sink, but never, never their own people. And yet... who did he know to have lied before, Ax asked himself: the Council, or Elfangor?

He had recovered from the initial shock somewhat, but still did not trust himself to speak, and so he weighed what he knew. He doubted that Elfangor would have mentioned Ellimists unless it were true. Ax would usually have hesitated to say he had encountered one himself. They did like to meddle, play with species as if they were toys, and for their own purposes. Just because the one had helped Ax and his friends, it did not mean he would ever consider their kind allies, or even to be trusted in the future. If it were true about the quantum virus, Ax would not have trusted their leaders with an even greater weapon, either. Since he knew of no such weapon, Elfangor's strategy must have worked. It was still strange to think of his brother running from anything, but Ax could understand. He had absented himself from a

[exterrabang]

He felt a twinge of dismay, sure for a moment (but only a moment) that Aximili would reject the truth of what he had told him--but it fell under the relief at hearing that assurance of his brother's trust.

"It was War Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass who ordered the release of the quantum virus. He told me of it, during the brief time that I was under his command... before he became what he now is." Before I allowed that to happen. The thought churned in his gut, a roiling, horrible sensation to give form to his guilt.

Perhaps that was why he could not stop his next words from forming. "That is largely why I had to return. Because of him, because of that creature in his head--" He shook his head. "Alloran gave the command to kill thousands of unarmed enemies, a command that sounded much to me like what it must have sounded like to receive the command to release the virus. I was young. I was foolish. I disobeyed, and for that, he paid with far worse than his life." Elfangor's head fell forward into his hands, his fingers knotting

[moarnomsplz]

Ax did not name the object out loud either, though he immediately knew Elfangor must mean the Time Matrix. "But that is no more than a mih, myth. I am sorry. Sorr-ee." He shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a better position in which to sit. He still found it odd to fold one's human body up like this for the purpose of resting. "I do not mean to contradict you. It is only that even the stories about it are very vague. You are saying-ing it is real?" His curiosity quickly became stronger than his disbelief. "You have seen it?"

Once more, he had to collect his thoughts. He was able to believe that his brother had found the Time Matrix, but one thing Ax would not believe was that Elfangor was correct in blaming himself for... for the Abomination. "I have spoken to War-Prince Alloran. As himself, I mean. Meen, meen-nuh." He had to look away again, and turned his two eyes down to focus on the table, because he was essentially admitting, now, that he had failed in his duty. He had faced his brother's killer, yet Visser Three still lived

[exterrabang]

"Have I seen it? Hell, I've used it." Used it to escape a black hole, accidentally creating a splintered universe in the process. But he doesn't want to think about that right now. "Not as a weapon. Just to escape a deadly situation. But then Loren--" He choked. God, Loren. "A human I had become close to used it to take us to Earth. I hid it, and we remained on Earth together for years, until the Ellimist came to me