#fandom animorphs

𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐏 195 - EP.09

𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐏 195-masterlist

(ep8) (ep10)

“Everything’s alright now…” Your mother soothed you as you sat on the bed with your knees drawn to your chest, arms wrapped around them, a blanket draped over your shoulders. One of your hands was being treated by the adult, who carefully wrapped bandages around your injured hand. The small red stain slowly disappeared with each turn of the gauze. Once she finished, you hugged your legs tighter. Your mother watched you with concern, sighing as she glanced around your room—it was an organized chaos, with books on the desk and the next day's clothes laid out on the chair. Turning back to you, she noticed your weary expression, the dark circles under your eyes, your dead-eyed stare, and your hair, fallen messily over your face from the… episode. Your mother wasn't even sure if it was a panic attack or a stress attack, but whatever it was, you looked awful—probably something bad. She couldn't ask for explanations; she wouldn't understand what happened, and even if she could, it would be difficult. She knew you barely spent any time at home. As a mother, she knew what to do. Sighing softly, she held the hand that was hugging your knee. "You don't need to say anything to me… but know that if you need to… if you want to, you know I'm here to listen." She kissed your forehead before pulling away, probably going to fetch a drink, some food, something to help. But you paid no mind. As soon as the bedroom door closed, you raised your hand and switched off the alarm clock on the nightstand, showing the same time you woke up every day. And with that, you got out of bed, slowly. At each alarm, you pressed the button to silence them all. With the last one on your desk, you lifted your eyes to look out the window—the moon was still in the sky. You turned and went back to your bed, sitting down again in the same spot. Your mind was empty.

Maybe having a minute of peace… no. Looking to the side, you saw your phone—your personal one, with its cute case, wallpaper, everything. You picked it up, checked the time and date, then unlocked it. You thought about messaging a friend, doing something, but you just stared at the phone before letting it go and lying back on the bed, arms spread wide, staring at the ceiling. You should go downstairs, to the basement, train, write letters, then clean the house, make breakfast, head to the dirty neighborhood before changing into your fake "civilian" persona, before going to the Mount of Justice. But you were tired, feeling a deep, hollow emptiness in your chest now. What would you do now? This is just another timeline, and even if you sleep and stay in bed all day, nothing will change. Someone dies, and you'll be forced to reset. And then a new cycle repeats—a new personality, new costume, new power, new weapon. The only thing that remains is you, who persists through every timeline.

And so, without even realizing it, you were back at the Mount of Justice. You hadn't even thought about it properly; your body was so accustomed it just went through the motions as always. You didn't even notice you were at the Mount until you realized you'd forgotten a book, one you usually took to read on site. When you noticed, you stared for a moment into the empty bag, then sighed and closed the locker, putting the usual padlock on it and the key that always hung around your neck. You looked around the place. You had arrived early, and with nothing to do… watch TV? You know what shows will be on; you've already watched them in the previous timeline. Normally, you'd exercise all day until the mission or until the adults told you to go home. But you were so tired. You looked at the mirror on the locker door—yes, even tired, you had put on your false civilian persona. Your subconscious must have done it.

Your steps dragged as you went to the beach. The water was calm and cold. Taking off your shoes, you left them in a corner and walked barefoot. You went into the sea, wading in deeper and deeper, until you gave up and just floated there. Death was never an option; even if you tried, all that would remain was the pain. You'd still be there, conscious and feeling all of it. You stared into the depths of the sea, arms spread wide, floating face down while your swimming goggles protected your eyes. Then you turned your body to look at the sky. It was silent, just the water gently rocking. Well, why not use the 'shackles' you use? No? Then, with a light hand gesture, you passed your hand over the choker, a screen appearing in your vision:

`Call Reinjichiro``Weapon Information``Costume Information``Death Style`

But you didn't even want to know about some of those. Your eyes landed on the icon in the corner, the extras or settings. In it were the choker's settings—change its color, models, accessories, and some other things, like screen settings, increasing text size, transparency, etc. Below the entire list, you went to the "Mods" section. It was still in beta. Reinjichiro had told you in previous timelines he was designing some things, including the headphones. Selecting this "mod," the choker changed—nothing too major, just two earbuds emerging from the choker, wired headphones, with your MP3 player attached to a cord wrapped around your neck. You put in the earbuds while the screen with the headphone mod appeared: a list of future and past songs you'd listened to, and "connect devices" to 'suck' music. You'd used it before in previous timelines to connect and have your saved music, and now, having scrolled through the huge list, you selected the one you most wanted to listen to at that moment.

Closing your eyes, you let yourself float in the water while the music played in your head. You didn't even notice how much time had passed, but you were so at peace.

Meanwhile, the team—the four: Kaldur, Megan, Superboy, and Robin—were in swimwear, admiring the blue sky, ready for a swim, with a picnic basket, surfboard, and such. The four seemed happy, playing around, until it was Superboy who spotted something in the sea, pointing at the distant figure. "What is that?" "Looks like a person," Robin said before giving Superboy a pat on the shoulder. They were at the beach; it was obvious there would be people nearby. But it was Kaldur who decided to go check. He dove in, swimming towards the figure, now seeing your body floating in the sea. You seemed at peace, breathing calmly, as if in an eternal serenity.

…Well, until someone poked you, making you open your eyes and look through the tinted diving goggles at Kaldur's face. So much for your peace. "What is it?" Your tone was strong, gruff, with a hint of irritation as you looked at the dark-haired boy. Your finger brushed over the earpiece, pausing the music.

"(Hero Name), you—" You cut the boy off. "I'm fine." With your movement, you stopped floating, your body now submerged in the water with just your head above the surface. You didn't even wait for Kaldur to speak, diving under the sea. You started swimming towards the shore, passing by the boats, not really paying attention to the voices of the boys. Once you were close, you emerged from the water, now standing in the sea, your wet clothes clinging to your body. You just walked out onto the sand, wringing the water from your hair before passing by the team, ignoring everyone, and heading towards the Mount's entrance.

"Was that (Hero Name)?" Superboy asked as they all watched you walk away with calm, relaxed steps. "It was. Looked like they were just floating peacefully." They all turned to Kaldur, who had swum back and was now standing in the water amidst the group, watching you leave. "People going to the beach usually wear swimsuits, right? Why were they in normal clothes?" Megan asked, confused, while Robin just shrugged. He didn't want to comment that it was actually a bit of a shock to see, and that in a way, the wet clothes clinging and showing your physique left something to the imagination. Now he was curious to see what you would look like in a swimsuit. "Whatever it is, they seem to have been here before us," Kaldur said, placing a hand on Robin's shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

Back inside the Mount, you walked through the common room heading to the bathroom. You took off the clothes wet with salty seawater to step into the shower and wash off all the salt. The music still played through your earbuds, even in the shower. You stayed there for a good few minutes with the water running over your shoulders and hair. Once satisfied, you turned it off and stepped out, now dry and changed, drying your hair and looking in the mirror. The dark circles were evident. You even thought you looked like a walking corpse. You stored the diving goggles in your locker, now dry and clean.

Everything was a blur; you didn't even see time passing. You only snapped to when you saw the new team member: Artemis. While Batman and the others were explaining, you hadn't even realized—luckily no one noticed. Lucky that the mask and the hero costume Reinjichiro made seemed to hide any expression on your face, concealing your empty eyes. You were too busy watching the yo-yo go up and down on your finger, until a thud made everyone look at the door. It was Wally, fallen on the floor in his swimwear and holding a bunch of beach stuff. "THE GUY," huh? "Love the uniform. So, what are your powers exactly?" Artemis said, holding the green bow in one hand and mocking Wally, who just got up and moved closer to Kaldur, asking him, "Who is she?"

"Artemis, your new teammate." The redhead then approached Artemis, raising a confused eyebrow. "Kid Flash. Never heard of you."

"Um, she's my new protégée," Green Arrow said, placing a hand on Artemis's shoulder. "What happened to your old one?" And as if to answer Wally's question, who appears in the doorway is speedy, now calling himself Red Arrow. What followed was just a buzz to you; you were already checked out, inside your own mind. Your finger mechanically lowered and raised the yo-yo like a robot. You only heard a high-pitched ringing that drowned out the buzz of the team's conversation, the whistle getting louder and louder as you continued to let the yo-yo go down and up, down and up… You only returned to reality when someone touched your shoulder, making you catch the yo-yo and look up to see Ricardito—now Red Arrow. He whispered something in your ear before giving you a couple of pats and leaving through the zeta-tube. COMPUTER: Recognized: speedy...

"It's Red Arrow, B06. Update," the redhead said before vanishing. And now, back in reality, you put away the yo-yo since there was a mission to do now, with the new member. You switched your costume to stealth mode like the rest of the team before heading to the designated location. "Miss Martian, connect us. We don't want the Shadows intercepting our communications," Aqualad said. And then you started hearing voices in your head but remained silent, both mentally and physically. "Is everyone connected?" the alien thought, while Artemis put a hand to her head. "Oh, this is weird."

"It's disturbing. Encoding a distributed algorithm virus on a kids' computer... with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to listen to the teenager think in my head?" the woman thought while typing rapidly on the keyboard with impressive speed. "Miss, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?" Wally thought, munching on a granola bar he'd brought with him.

"Dirty and unwashed. Have you two met?" Artemis said, gesticulating with her hands and smirking mockingly. "Hey, I don't need attitude... from the rookie who got Red Arrow kicked off the team," Wally argued mentally, pointing at the blonde, who stood up from the table where she was sitting, a strong tension of anger in her body as she turned her head and crossed her arms. "That's not my problem." The woman scientist at the computer just sighed. "The fate of the world is at stake??" You just stepped out from where you were leaning in the shadows at the back and approached the woman, giving her a pat on the shoulder as if in understanding, before removing your hand and watching her work. You weren't thinking, but rather remembering flashbacks showing what would happen next, just like in other timelines. And now, knowing the pattern, you would avoid death once again. The routine repeating, as always.