Animorphs 2.0

The Change

A/N: Sorry for another delay. I honestly just forgot. I'll try to post more regularly from now on.

I blinked. When I opened my eyes I was back in my bed. In MY home. I jumped out of bed. I started feeling things around the room. It was all real. I was back. I thought at first that it was a dream but then I shook my head. The Ellimist was not a dream. It was only a foolish wish. I heard noises downstairs in the kitchen. Cautiously, I went to see what it was.

I found him in the kitchen, making breakfast. I forgot he did that sometimes. I gasped. It can't be! He died! I ran to him and gave him the biggest hug I could handle, big, fat tears of joy and relief pouring down my face.

"Dad." I sobbed into his neck. He hugged me back, not knowing what upset me, but comforting me all the same. When, finally, I could get some words out, we sat down at the table and talked. I told him of the other world and what the Ellimist had showed me. Dad put his hand over mine when I told him of the other Elfangor. I looked into his eyes, watery like mine, but I saw something there. Something familiar. It was the same thing I saw in him as an Andalite. He looked the same. You could tell who he is in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tobias." He said when I was done talking. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

I put my head in my arms. "What am I supposed to do, Dad? The Ellimist pretty much said this world is collapsing. He said I'll have to choose. I don't want to. I don't want to go there."

"Tobias." I looked up. I saw love in his eyes and comfort. It helped me relax and feel a little better. "Maybe the Ellimist is right." He said softly.

I started shaking my head. "No." I said, "No, Dad. I won't do that. I won't choose for you to die."

"Tobias, we have to assume the Ellimist is right in saying that this world will not last." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Tobias, I don't want you to go any more than you do, but if this world doesn't survive, it won't matter anyway."

He didn't understand. He didn't know what it felt like. "Dad, you don't understand. You didn't see it. I watched you die. I watched the Visser pick you up and -" I broke off. "How can you ask me to accept that? I won't go to that place. Not without you." I was stubborn, but rightly so. He was asking too much of me. The Ellimist. I couldn't. I wouldn't.

"I would've died sometime anyway, Tobias. At least now you can say goodbye."

I stood up and walked away from the table. "I won't do it, Dad. You can't make me." I said as I stepped out of the room. I caught a glimpse of him with his head in his hands, but I continued up the stairs to my room. I sat on the bed and cried. I hadn't done this since I was little, but I was not ashamed. I needed these tears. The tiny part of me that had accepted my fate thought, that with so little time left, I should spend it with my father, but I ignored it. I wanted to think I had a whole lifetime with him ahead of me. I didn't know how much time passed, but when I opened my eyes, it was dark outside. I must've fallen asleep. I saw that I was under the covers. I didn't remember doing that. I heard the door open. It was my dad. He came close to me and kissed me on the forehead. He sat by my bed and told me a story from his people, like he used to when I was a kid. It was a story of pain and loss, but also of hope and happiness. It filled me with warmth. I wanted to hold on to this moment. To have it forever. He finished his story and leaned close to me to whisper in my ear.

"You will never lose me, Tobias. No matter what. I will always be near. And as long as you know that, you need not be afraid. I love you, Tobias."

"I love you, Dad." I whispered back. He gave me one last kiss on the forehead and left the room. I didn't hold on. I've let him go. I've decided. I didn't fully know yet, but I've decided. And it felt okay. Like the aftermath of a warm breeze. I enjoyed the moment while it lasted. The Ellimist moved me in my sleep, and when I woke up, everything had changed.