The Way We Were

[ECKS]

(Just outside the mansion, in the moonlight night, Chris and Ana walk together, hand in hand. Even though Sonima's death was only momentary, Ana knows that Chris still holds the guilt of her death inside of him. But she tells herself that when he's ready he'll talk about why this bothers him so much. Suddenly, Chris stops walking.)

ECKS: "Do you think somethin's wrong with me? I mean, I don't know where that rage came from when I killed Sonima. I just felt like it was the only way to stop her... but was it. Could there've been another way. And now she's somehow brought herself back to life, how do I face her now, knowin' what I did?"

. . .

[Starr]

. . .

Ana: "Honestly, Chris, I think you made the right choice. The way I see it it was either her or all of us, possibly even the rest of the world. You saw how powerful she was, and she was corrupted, she had no control over herself or her powers. She could've killed us all."

(Chris starts to turn his head away as if not wanting to listen, but Ana reaches up and touches his chin. Gently she turns his face back to hers.)

Ana: "I understand that you feel guilty about this, and I know it can't be easy to face a person that you thought you killed. But that's part of being a leader, you have to be the one to make these hard choices, and sometimes any choice you make will have it's consequences, but it's up to you to choose the bigger consequence. As a leader sometimes you choose the lesser of two evils. If you can't do that, if you can't be the one to make those decisions, then who will?"

. . .

[ECKS]

(ECKS takes a second to think about that then takes a deep breath and lets it out in a heavy sigh. He looks down to the ground for a second, as if the words he searching for will be there. Then he looks back up at Ana.)

ECKS: "You're right. Not every choice is gonna be in a win-win situation. Sacrifices must be made in order to save others, but who am I to choose who to sacrifice and who to save. I made the right choice this time but what about next time."

(ECKS turns and walks a few steps away. Ana stays where she is, waiting to see what he'll say.)

ECKS: "You ever wish things could go back to the way they were. Before all this happened, back to when we were just normal. Sometimes I think that if I could go back and do it all again I might change something, but then I remember, all the choices I made 'till now brought me back to you, so maybe I wouldn't change a thing."

(ECKS turns to see Ana walking toward him, he can see the answer in her eyes, she's glad things turned out like this. She's glad to have this part of her life back again. She walks right up to him and they lock eyes. She doesn't have to say a thing, he already knows what she wants to say. ECKS smiles back.)

ECKS: "I love you, too."

(The two start to lean in for a kiss when...)

[Falco]

< Hello, Who are you two? >

(they see a Peregrine Falcon flying in a circle above them)

*Lands on the yard about 5 feet from them*

*mutates to Human*

*smiles and holds hand out to shake hands with ECKS*

I am Falco. Nice to meet you.

[ECKS]

(Shakes Falco's hand.)

ECKS: "I'm ECKS, I guess you could say I run this place. This is Ana."

(ECKS motions toward Ana.)

ECKS: "Lemme guess, you must be the new guy I been hearin' about. Well it's nice to meet ya, kinda caught us in the middle of somethin' but that seems to happen a lot around here."

(ECKS looks back to Ana, who is trying not to laugh at the situation. She puts her hand over her mouth to hide it.)

ECKS: "So that's a neat trick you got there, how exactly do you do that?"

. . .

[Falco]

You've heard about me? What have you heard?

*smirks*

Answer that and I will tell you how I mutate to things.

*smirks again*

[ECKS]

. . .

ECKS: "Not much. But I do run this school and people do talk, a lot. Most of what I've heard is just from hearing other students talkin' about you."

. . .

[Falco]

Oooohhhh... well, you told me that, kind of... so I will tell you how I mutate...

I touch an animal, well, anything with DNA, and make a copy and store it in my brain... then , when ever I need to or want to, I mutate my DNA structure to match that copy.

*looks around*

Well, I am just heading out to the jersey coast, see what animals I can get there, just came back from the Pittsburgh Zoo, got 2 there.

It was nice meeting both of you.

*mutates to Falcon*

*spreads wings to fly when he heard his name*

*stops and turns, folding wings back to his sides*

[ECKS]

(With a blank expression on his face he watches Falco mutate again and head off. His attention turns to Ana, who shares the expression.)

ECKS: "That guys a little weird. Ya think?"

. . .

[Starr]

. . .

Ana: "A little. But that is an amazing power. He can change into any animal he wants simply by being in contact with it. He could definitely come in handy."

. . .

[ECKS]

. . .

ECKS: (smirking) "Good point."

(He notices that Ana is starting to shiver a little from the cold.)

ECKS: "Gettin' cool again. You ready to head back inside?"

. . .

[Starr]

. . .

Ana: "Yeah, it is getting a little chilly out here. I say we go back inside and try to think of a way to keep warm tonight. After all, it's supposed to be another cold one."

(She winks at Chris.)

[ECKS]

. . .

ECKS: "Well, if you insist. I'm sure we can find somethin' to do. I've got a pretty good imagination, you know."

(The two of them make their way back to the mansion.)