Title: The End
Fandom: Animorphs
Characters: Rachel, gen.
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Through book #54.
Summary: Rachel hesitated. It surprised her more than it surprised Jake.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. Animorphs belongs to K.A. Applegate and Scholastic.
Note: For
trixie_chick’s
hopless request. Jake looked like death warmed over, but his voice didn’t shake when he explained what he needed her to do.
Rachel hesitated. It surprised her more than it surprised Jake.
She thought about graduating high school. Maybe it was stupid, but she’d worked her ass off for all of her grades, even if they’d dropped in the last couple years. She thought about all the college brochures her mom had taken to leaving around her room. She thought about dormrooms and Women’s Studies classes.
She thought about the trip to Europe her father had been promising for years. She thought about her little sisters, who were just starting to turn into people. She thought about her mom, who had just that morning pulled her into a hug and pressed a kiss against her temple. “I don’t understand it yet,” she’d said, “but I love you. And I’m proud of you.” Yeah, she thought about her mom.
She thought about Tobias. She thought about stealing kisses between two hours. She thought about devotion and trust and unconditional love. She thought about the wedding she’d planned out with Cassie at age eight. She’d picked out baby names with Cassie, too, and thought about never getting to meet little Daniel or Morgan. She thought about dying a virgin, and wasn’t sure if it was cool, like some Greek mythological figure, or just pathetic.
She thought about the end of a war she’d been fighting for a third of her life, an end she’d never see. She thought about living in a world without wondering if each and every person she met was an enemy. She thought about appreciation, about support, about approval.
She thought about Jake, and Cassie, and Marco, and Ax. She thought about friends that always pulled her though. She thought about them living in a world without her, where she wasn’t around to watch their backs, too.
She thought about the Yeerks, and the lives they’d already destroyed. She thought about her cousin, her aunt and uncle, and the broken boy in front of her.
“Let’s do it,” she said.
**END**