Story [Animorphs] Voluntary Misfortune [AU] (Proverbs Challenge)

Title: Voluntary Misfortune
Author: DaenaBenjen42
Fandom: Animorphs (AU)
Characters: Cassie, Jake, and an OC
Genre: Drama
Disclaimer: Happily borrowing from K.A. Applegate and Scolastic.
Spoilers: Animorphs #11 The Forgotten
Notes: This was written for the Proverbs Challenge. Mine was #46: Ignorance is voluntary misfortune. American proverb, mid 20th century

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She was just getting settled into the work routine for the morning when a hand landed on her shoulder. Blinking, Cassie turned to find Dr. Trent standing there, smiling at her. ?What??

The woman handed her an envelope. ?I had the oddest meeting with your husband this morning, Cassie. Seems today is special to him for some reason, but he wouldn?t say why.?

Cassie paused, not really understanding it either. It was completely the wrong month for any birthdays, anniversaries? and Victory In Space Day wasn?t until November. ?Odd??

?Incidentally, you have the rest of the day off.? The woman turned to leave, but Cassie stopped her. ?At his request, not yours.?

?Why? There?s nothing special about today, April.?

April smiled again. ?Then you?ll have to ask him what the big mystery is, won?t you?? She motioned to the still-unopened envelope in Cassie?s hand. ?Open it, then go have a nice day with him.?

Cassie watched as April walked away to see to a four-legged patient, then looked down at the envelope with her name on it in Jake?s handwriting. Curiosity got the better of her, and so she opened it.

[i]?Cassie,
I know. This is strange. Dress for heat and humidity and wear hiking boots. We?re going on a picnic.
-Jake? [/i]

Cassie stared at the card. He?d convinced April to give her the day off for a picnic?

~*~*~*~*~

When he?d said ?picnic?, she?d thought he meant ?we?re going to the park.? Not? ?Jake, this is the Amazon Rainforest.?

?Yes.?

?It?s an Anaconda preserve!? Which was only mostly true? the Anacondas were really former Taxxons who had revolted against the Yeerks in exchange for an alternative. The Taxxons had become Nothlit Anacondas. ?We?re not supposed to be here.?

Jake led her to the bank of a river, laid a blanket on the ground, and gestured for her to sit. ?We?ll not be here long, Cassie.?

Something was wrong. She knew that, even as she sat down and watched him do the same. What had April said? ?A special day.? He handed her a sandwich and together they ate in silence. Long minutes passed before Jake turned and looked at her, eyes full of more shadows than she?d seen in years.

?We?ve been here before,? Jake finally said. Slowly, deliberately, as if he was saying it but not quite believing it.

She paused a moment to glance around, then looked at him again. ?We have? I?m sure I would remember having been here before, Jake. It?s a beautiful river.?

He threw the last of his sandwich in the water, and she was startled to see a commotion made by fish. ?Pirhana. And no, you don?t. You couldn?t. I?m the only one that does.?

Now she was intrigued. ?Oh? Why?s that??

?Remember the bug fighter that crashed into that supermarket one time? That was ten years ago? today.? He shook his head. ?I know it doesn?t make sense now, but??

?Wait.? She inched closer to him, taking his chin in her hands. ?You stopped us. That?s what I remember. We went, we were going to get closer in fly morph, and you stopped us. We didn?t go inside. There?s something else, isn?t there??

?Yes. The first time around, we went. And ended up right here.?

Now? it made a little more sense. ?Oh. What happened?? The shadows seemed to grow deeper in his eyes, and Cassie suddenly discovered that she didn?t need him to say it. Something bad. That was all she needed to know. She closed the distance between them and kissed him soundly.

When they pulled apart, Jake just looked at her for a moment. ?Now do you understand why I arranged for you to have the day off??

?Yes, love.?

They sat together on the blanket for a little while longer, and Jake laughed. ?I don?t know about you, but I thi

 

*flails* ANIMORPHS!


Nicely done! Gotta admit that I haven't read the books in at least a decade, and I didn't make it to the end of the series, so I was a bit confused but this was awesome nontheless.

 

Usually not one for Animorphs but not bad, not bad at all.