The Trial

A-Ratt A-Ratt! A-Ratt! A-RattA-Ratt!A-Ratt!

The human named Marco winced, "Rachel, cut it out, you're driving me nuts!"

A-RATT A-RATT A-RATT A-RATT!A!RATT!A-RATT!

"Rachel!" He said, "Cut it out already, I'm not interested."

A-RATT A-RATT! A-RATT! A-RATT!A!RATT!A-RATT!

"Rachel!" This time it was from the one called Jake. The one called Rachel tapped her nails on the metal table once more again; she stopped scowled and threw her arms in the air.

The sound had been very annoying, Rlilim-Assgarit-Pathroil continued to look at the transparent walls, they would soon be opaque.

"I can't believe it." She growled, "I just can't believe it."

"Oh yeah? Tell me something new." Marco retorted, "You've been saying that for the last seven hours, did you realize that?"

She had done more than just saying that, the last seven hours were a living hell for any poor Andalite who so much as happen to pass the angry female. She screamed, she raged, she accused, she yelled and she tolerated absolutely no one, she gave no respect to any of the Andalite officers and she countered every single word they would say.

And she still hadn't cooled down at all. The Aristh had been taken to the Captain's quarters, no one was told why, he had been in there ever since Prince Berit announced our leaving.

We are only a few minutes away from making the translation into Z-space, these humans may not be very happy but Rlilim, for one, was very happy, they would be on leave. They where going to go to his home land.

Rlilim had heard that the Aristh had been held there as so not to interfere, they say that he is 'deranged' that he had lived too long with the humans, others say that he was put there because the Captain wasn't through talking to him.

Rlilim stood guard near the entrance of the room the Captain had supplied for the humans, another warrior stood near him, both of them were quite occupied, usually, such duties are very boring, but with the humans, it is very difficult for anyone to call it boring.

< What do you think about the Aristh? > I asked him.

< Oh. Haven't you heard? > He said, < He's a full warrior now. >

No, Rlilim hadn't heard, mostly because he was the one who had to fetch the vecol, a room had been spared for him, he will not be going out of there for a very long time.

Mostly, the fellow seemed to be sad, not because of his injury, but because his comrade had recently died.

Rlilm turned an eyestalk at the humans, they seemed to be arguing, in fact, he saw them do nothing but argue.

It is very shocking what they talked about, theories, very shocking as they are all lies.

"I tell you, it was planned, must have been from day one, the Yeerks come Andalites make a show of 'we are trying to help you' fail, then grab what they can and leave, no wait, I forgot.

"They send in a few of their officers, they claim to be here to help us, but Oh-no, there here to 'assassinate' Visser Three, how does that help us? It's nothing but disaster, these so called officers happen to be the 'dregs' of the Andalite military, and, a big and, their real mission is to annihilate three quarters of our race so that they would have no trouble in saving our miserable lives.

"They might as well have shoved a flag with 'we don't care' written on it while they were at it, I mean, it is the simplest solution huh? Can't help'em kill'em. Easy way out, no work done, they might as well have…what did Ax call it? Oh, yes, incinerate our atmosphere, a lot easier than wasting half their time in developing some virus that would send both Yeerk and human down the drain and…"

The female, Rachel, seemed to do most of the arguing and raging, no one would join her, Rlilim just got the impression that she was wasting her energy on nothing, Rlilim was getting quite a headache from listening to her rage for hours on.

"Where is Ax anyway?" She demanded, "He blew-the-coop, he left us hanging on thin thread, typical, that's all you're going to get form that arrogant no-good-for-nothing-"

< Shut up, Rachel. >

The nothlit bird had spoken up, Tobias.

"ALL-RIGHT!" She snarled, "I'm shutting up!"

With that she sat down and folded her arms against her chest, silent. This gave Rlilim an opportunity to glance at what the others had been doing.

Their Prince, Jake was his name, was sitting in a corner, he looked defeated, exhausted, like there was nothing he could possibly do or accomplish.

The darker skinned human, Cassie, was sitting beside him, her arms around his shoulders, he was staring blankly at no one, her head was against his shoulders and her eyes were closed.

The one called Marco was sitting on a chair, the one that faced the metal table, his elbows were at the surface of the table while his hands were clasped underneath his chin, there was a certain far away look to his eyes. Almost as if he wasn't there.

Tobias was in his hawk form, his face set into it's usual scowl, his eyes burned into the eyes of Rachel, she had fell silent, her head against the transparent wall, her eyes staring blankly into his, staring coldly.

Soon, from being the nosiest room on Galaxy Blossom, it became to be the most silent and soundless room; the tone carried a deadly feeling, a depressing air of a tranquilly lifeless atmosphere.

He straitened his posture as Prince Berit approached. He went in, ignoring the two warriors on duty.

"Oh, great." Rachel said, breaking the silence, "What does he want now?"

She was now seated on another chair; there were six other chairs. All metal and facing around the metal table, we have been told that humans do a thing called sitting, I didn't understand the concept until I actually saw it.

But it does not make a lot of sense to me.

< We are a few months from reaching the Andalite Home World- >

"And I'm suppose to be happy?" She interrupted, Marco snapped out of his trance and looked at Prince Berit, and then he went back to looking at…at whatever he was looking at, the walls were now opaque.

Prince Berit glared at her, his stalk eyes swiveled to see if there was anyone else in the room he could address. His main eyes locked onto the nothlit's,

< The Captain wants to- >

"I'm not interested."

< Ignore her. > Rachel glared at Tobias. Her scowl almost out-scowled his.

< The Captain wants to brief you, about what you would say when you are at the hearing. >

< Okay, > Tobias said, < I'll tell them. >

< The Captain is going to be here in a few minutes. >

He nodded his head in acknowledgement, Prince Berit left. He walked up the corridor and knocked on the Captain's door.

< Come in. >

The door opened and he stepped in, he saw that warrior Aximili was there as well. After all, wasn't that where they had kept him? To stay out of the way?

< Sir, they are ready. >

The Captain nodded. Looked at Aximili and said, < It runs in your family, doesn't it? >

Aximili said nothing. He was in no doubt, angered at what they had done.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

~Marco~

The table was a rounded off rectangle, pretty big. Jake was sitting in front of the shortest side, you know, where your father usually sits, the side where you could see both sides of the table? Left and right? Where the chair with the armrest is usually put.

Freaky, Jake was acting like a strict grandfather or father, or actually, some pissed off general who is 'keeping his head in'.

I sat on the right side; Cassie was in front of me, which made her on Jake's left side. Beside her was Rachel, which made her diagonal to me; in front of her was Tobias, perched on the backrest of the metal chair, which made him sitting beside me.

And oh yeah, let's not forget, David was sitting opposite to Jake, his dog, Urchin, he called him, was sitting beside him, his head went above the table's surface, he was a big dog, like I said, Urchin makes a dog like Euclid lovable.

My gaze was locked on Rachel, her gaze was locked on mine, it was grotesque, a cold war between the Animorphs. Rachel was avoiding Tobias, which was why she was staring at my face, in any normal situation, I would have cracked a joke, now was not the time to laugh, I lost my race, my planet, my family.

All of us lost our families, no big surprise, down on Earth, Visser Two had erupted a war, so far, the free-human death toll was rising to one million something and something.

Like I said, Tobias was burning holes through Rachel's face, My gaze locked on to Rachel's. Now, complication, something snapped between me and Rachel, we now hate each other, it's official, but, when that line snapped, another one got fastened.

I understood her more, she understood me, we both respect each other but…we cannot stand each other, it's like…she can't tolerate listening to me talk and analyze situations but…she admired my work?

Forget it, we all know how much Rachel is in favor of me being dead. Why push it? It's like making a German general work with a British general while being commanded by an American general… Same level, different points and views.

Jake was staring coldly at David, who, in turn, was staring back, Cassie was in between, she had the side of her face resting on her hand while her head was cocked at Jake's direction, he was not paying much attention to her.

Oh yeah…Last thing, about our positions on the table, since Jake was opposite to David that meant that Rachel was on his right and Tobias on his left, his dog was the only thing between him and Rachel.

Let him say his prayers, if that's the only thing that stood between Rachel and David then let him go and dig his own grave. He better not make her mad.

Especially since he was in kicking range.

The hot shot Captain came in, trailing him were another three Andalites, the Prince who got attitude, the War-Prince and the sad mistake Alloran.

I saw no Ax, where was he?

Oh, there. He came in, slowly, his main eyes on Jake's. Jake refused to meet his gaze. For a few seconds that is, I knew Jake, he must have realized that Ax had been kept away against his will.

Jake looked at Ax, then he nodded, slowly. Ax must have said something in private thought speak, his expression was sad, the saddest I'd ever seen on him.

< I believe you realize that we cannot tell the truth to the Andalite people. >

Rachel opened her mouth to interrupt. I reached under the table and kicked her. Her mouth closed and she glared at me.

< We understand the loss of your planet, > -I shot her a look, the look that said, it's not worth it, let it go- < But, as you know, there are times that people should move on, look beyond their own loss, > -I caught Rachel again- < The Andalite War council wish you to ally with the Andalites, you, a group of specially chosen humans, will change something in this war. We hope, that with your different views and experience you will help us throw the Yeerks over. >

Rachel mouthed to me, now they want help? Now? I turned my gaze to Jake, futile, his expression was unreadable, I shot a look at Cassie.

She looked two seconds away from a total break down, her face had gone pale, her eyes wide, she scanned Jake's face, desperate for something from him, anything.

Jake's expression did not change, but I notice that one of his hands where underneath the table, so was Cassie's. The expression on Jake's face softened, only slightly.

Great, they were holding hands.

The Captain finished his speech, I hadn't paid too much attention to it, I was too busy noticing that my best pal was flirting with his girlfriend. Undercover, I was the only one who had noticed this. I felt the beginning of a grin start to tug at my lips.

THUMP!

Jake kicked me; I faked a cough, to cover up my grin. I regained my 'No body's at home' look and resumed my mapping of Rachel's face. I hoped Tobias wouldn't notice what I was doing.

The Captain stared at Jake and me, he heard the kick, I was defiantly going to lose this fight and crack up laughing. The Captain was baffled; he didn't know what had caused the noise.

He seemed to shrug it off.

I kicked Jake back, gently.

The Captain must have said something, because very suddenly, Rachel shoved back her chair, leaving a space between her and the table, The Captain was standing behind Tobias, so naturally, she was facing the Andalite Captain.

THUD! THUD!

Rachel put one leg over the other at the table, foot over foot -which I just noticed that she was wearing leather boots- like some hot shot homicide detective.

She crossed her arms and in a daring tone she said, "Make. me."

A Rachel Classic, you got to admire that girl, she sits in the most insulting position (which I think, I think, the Captain understood) in front of a race that is top arrogant, Mr. I swagger in, and if you say a thing that would insult me I will snap my tail for you to watch your own head rolling away, plus, he is, a big emphasize on the word 'is', the Captain of this ship and I shall not remind you that he could just open a door and throw you out.

My point, this is not Rachel's turf, she wants a fight, this kind of behavior on Earth would have been acceptable-in Rachel terms of course.

Here? It is a big 'ouch.'

But, what am I saying? I didn't hear what she reacted to.

He glared at her, < I see, are all human females as ill mannered as this one? And do they lack a certain discipline? >

David snorted, "That's psycho witch for you."

Rachel pointed a finger at David, "You. Shut. Up." She leaned back against the backrest of her chair, then she pointed her index finger at the Captain, "And you, Andalite. You want respect? Earn it."

The Captain was no fool, he knew better than to counter what she had said, where does that leave him?

< And how do I do that? >

She looked at him, "You found a way for me to lose my respect for all Andalites you found it pretty easily, I suggest you find another way of undoing your mistake."

He laughed, < And what? Go back to the Yeerks? Fight a futile fight? Lose lives? >

"You don't seem to care if human lives are lost." She said through clenched teeth, she relaxed. "Then again, I didn't really expect that."

< Then what did you expect? >

Rachel said nothing, just stared ahead.

David smirked, he seemed on the verge of saying something, something stupid. But then he caught the look on Jake's face and decided to post-pone his remark.

"About your offer," Jake said, finally, "We will fight, not because you asked us, but because it our duty as well as yours. Humans will always fight against evil, no matter what the evil is."

< How do we insure that you would not be captured alive? > Prince Berit asked.

Rachel took her feet off the table, she looked at Prince Berit without flinching, "Give me liberty or give me death."

Tobias nodded his fierce raptor head, < Free or dead. >

Why does every one I meet insist on that phrase? It's pure depression, for me that is, you too?

Chapter Thirty-Eight

~Cassie~

"Cassie?"

I looked around searching for the familiar voice.

"Honey?" A pause, "Cassie I'm here."

I searched franticly, but darkness was swallowing me up, "Mum?"

"Where?"

"Over here."

I was drawn down a path, it was as if I was underground…an unfinished tunnel… no it looked like something I saw before, but where?

"Mum?"

No answer but I continued down the tunnel, it wasn't voluntary, something was calling me urgently, and my instinctive response was to come to it.

"Come to me." Whispered the voice.

As I walked I noticed that I wasn't the only one drawn to the voice, I saw other people walking alongside me, for some strange reason I couldn't see their faces.

"Come my little ones."

I reached a chamber and I saw my mum on a chair, her back was to me, by now so many people where cramped in the chamber that I had to squeeze past them, walk over them. I also had to climb over the ceiling, this way was faster, I dropped to the ground.

I reached out a hand to touch me mother on her shoulder, "Mum?"

She turned.

My face twisted in terror, I felt the blood drain away from my face, I screamed.

It was my mother, but it also wasn't.

My mother was who she was, the way I remembered her, only her face was a termite's.

I spun around to run away, only when I did turn round I faced a sea of termite faces, all stuck on human bodies.

Their antennas waved at the air, there sharp beak shaped mouths snapped at the air. They started to chant.

"Kill her…kill her…kill her…"

I screamed again as my mother grabbed me by my shoulders her mouth closing round my…

"Cassie! Hey Cassie wake up!"

"Ahhh!" I yelped shoving Rachel off me.

Rachel stared at me, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I gasped.

"That was one hell of a nightmare huh?"

"Yeah, think so."

I looked around the room we were in, at first the Andalites offered us a quarter each, but we told them that we humans don't mind sleeping together, so Rachel and I took a quarter and the boys took one for themselves, Jake and Marco where very reluctant with sleeping alongside David so he had to take a quarter for himself.

The room was pretty much bare nothing was in it. Rachel got up from the ground and looked wistfully out of the transparent walls, I frowned, they weren't transparent before I slept.

Rachel noticed the frown on my face and said, "It's pretty easy, there must be a computer somewhere you just say whether you want it like that or not."

I frowned again, "They're watching us?" Rachel sighed and looked away, great, we can't even talk in private.

"I'm going to go talk to the others, it's going to get boring if we stay here, you're coming with me?"

She shook her head.

"Don't you want to talk to Tobias?"

"I don't want to see David's rat face."

I sighed and went outside, Tobias and Rachel were on bad terms these days, I don't know why they're acting like that, I mean, after all the things we've been through together…

"Cassie? What are you doing? Going out for a stroll?"

I turned around it was Marco.

"You too huh?"

"What excited? No, I don't think I'd be over thrilled for the hearing, we're arriving after a few hours and I…"Marco looked at me then said, "Bored you mean? Sure, since Rachel is confined to the four walls she's facing there isn't another girl to pick on…" Then he hastily added, "Except you of course."

"Come on." I laughed, "Where is he?"

Marco pretended to look shocked and horrified, "I can't tell you, I've sworn secrecy to my Prince, under no circumstances should I ever revile his whereabouts, and circumstances of your kind are-"

"Marco? What's wrong? Lost your sense pride?" A voice sneered behind us.

Marco spun around, "David!"

"That's right, David's the name." David smirked.

"What do you want?" He snapped. "Why don't you and your mutt go barking down some other corner, eh?"

"Sorry," He said mockingly, "Didn't realize that your name was written on this ship."

"Hey, can you just leave us and go?" Marco snapped.

"Uhuh, what if I don't."

"You're going to be sorry for it."

"Urchin. Sit." The big dog sat down next to David.

"Why you-"

"Marco come on, let's go find Jake."

"Yes little Marco, hide behind big Jake."

I grabbed Marco's shoulders, forced him round and started to walk away.

"Ignore him." I advised. But David wouldn't let it be.

"Where's Psycho Witch? What's wrong? Her lordship can't find the right malls to shop in?"

"No, but her lordship had found the nearest Flea market." Rachel said sliding next to Marco and me.

David wavered for a few seconds, realized that three of us would be too much to handle turned around and walked away, "Heel Urchin."

"Rachel, did you change your mind?" I asked her. I was referring to Tobias, Marco looked blankly at both of us.

Ignoring my question she turned around and headed for our quarters, then over her shoulder she said, "I guessed you guys needed help getting rid of that worm."

Chapter Thirty-Nine

~Jake~

< And you are? Alien. >

"I am a human."

The head of council Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrous looked at me, the Andalite who was questioning me continued.

< What is your name? Human. >

I paused for a few seconds to collect me thoughts, I was in a vast room, a hall actually, the hall was dome shaped, the head councilor was at the very far end at the back of the dome, he was standing -as you know, Andalites don't sit- on a raised platform, on his sides were the council's ring. They formed a semi circle and all were looking at me-I was in front of the head of council. One of the members –the Andalite who was questioning me- paced in front of me.

The council's ring took a fifth of the hall, the rest of the hall was filled with Andalites who were listening to the hearing, some were Princes, some were generals but the majority were from the war council, Apex level intelligent Officers.

A distance away from the council ring were two Andalites who seemed to be noting down what was said, a third was always looking at me. Probably trying to read my expressions. Near them were the rest of the Animorphs and former Animorph David.

This was not the public hearing, this was were the Andalite military wanted to know exactly what happened, these were the Andalites who knew the truth about Ax, they knew it was not him who gave us the morphing technology, they know it was Elfangor, and today they were going to know a great deal more.

Until now, they are the only Andalites who know that there are six humans who possess the power to morph. They know that these human had done great damage to the Yeerk force they wanted to know how.

"My name is Jake ______." I said in a clear loud voice.

< Tell us, in detail, what happened on the night you got your morphing powers. >

"It was late at night, my friend Marco and I had just finished playing around"-I decided against using the word mall, it would take me ages to explain- "and had decided to go home, Tobias came up and asked if he could come with us, we agreed. On the way we met Rachel, my cousin and her friend Cassie, they also were on their way home.

"We decided to take the short route home, apparently, that meant that we had to cross an abandoned construction site, the place is very dangerous, especially at night, but we chose to chance our risk."

" It was Tobias who saw it first, he was looking at the sky," I paused slightly, "He told us to look up, we all did, Cassie said it looked like a flyingsauc- an alien craft, it landed just in front of us."

< You did not run away? >

"No, we were quite amazed, aliens are believed to be a fantasy to us humans, and there in front of me I was looking at something that was defiantly not from Earth."

< Then what happened? >

"A ramp descended form the fighter and an Andalite came out, of course I had no idea at the time that that was what he was. He told us not to be afraid, and that he wasn't going to hurt us."

"After that he stepped down from the ramp, he was hurt and when we offered to help him he said that his time had come, he said that his wounds were fatal, he said he wanted to warn us."

"He told us his name, Prince Elfangor. He said that there were other aliens about, he said that they were different, and that they were here to destroy us. He said that they called themselves Yeerks, that they are parasites and he told us that they could infest sentient beings and make them slaves of there own minds."

"He said that he could help us, he told me to go into his fighter and retrieve a box, a blue box. The box that will give us the power to morph. He asked us to decide whether we wanted to possess the power or not-"

< So he had given you the choice of accepting or refusing? >

"That's what I said."

< You agreed? >

A murmur ran through the crowd.

"Yes, we decided-"

< We? I was under the impression that you were the leader of this group. >

"Yes, it was unofficial, but if my friends had thought that we shouldn't do it then we wouldn't have done it."

He frowned, < I see, you mean it was a grouped decision? >

My eyes flashed, why was he treating me like a moron? "Yes, it was all of our decision, but I felt slightly responsible because my friends were looking at me, they wanted me to say-"

< So it was your decision. >

"No," I said with a bite of impatience in my voice, "It was unanimous."

< I see. > He cast a look at the rest of the council's ring with his stalk eyes, he seemed to shrugged something off then said, < Continue. >

"He told us to place our hands on the cube and he transferred the power to us, after that we saw three more ships in the air, when he saw them he told us to run, Tobias stayed behind, then he too ran.

"He explained that the ships that were descending were the Yeerks, two Yeerk bug-fighters and the blade-ship of whom belonged to Visser Three landed. And then for the first time, we saw the Yeerk troops, we saw Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, there were some human controllers as well but we didn't notice them until later on. Our attention was manly drawn to Visser Three, he too had come down the blade ship.

"As the Visser approached, Elfangor stood up to face him, he fought them when they tried to grab him, the fight was futile, he was seized by a couple of Hork-Bajir, the Visser told them to hold him while he finished morphing, when he did finish, the Visser, he, he-"

I stopped, I couldn't say it, I just couldn't say it, maybe it would have been easier if Ax wasn't there, he already knew what happened, but I didn't want to say it. I couldn't.

< And then what? > Dead silence from everybody around me.

"He." I chanced a look at Ax, he was looking right at me, with all four of his eyes, his eyes were expressionless.

"He grabbed Elfangor and…and then he ate him." I had averted my eyes from Ax as I said it.

Another murmur ran through the crowd. I also heard various gasps. When I looked at the Council members I saw that their expressions were professionally blank, Lirem was looking at Ax with an impression I couldn't interpret.

"When Visser Three grabbed him, I, I tried to get out of hiding and help him, I couldn't just watch him die! Tobias and Cassie grabbed me and Elfangor himself told me to stay."

"After that we were detected, we were chased but we managed to escape, after that we all went to our various homes."

< Nothing else happened that day? >

"No."

< Proceed. >

"The next day I woke up and tried to think of that the whole ordeal was some crazy nightmare, of course, that didn't last for long., Tobias came and told me that he morphed a cat, after that I morphed a dog. Later that day Marco came over and as we were talking, my brother came in and he asked us if we had been at the construction site yesterday night, we asked him why, and he said that a few teenagers were playing around with fire works and the police were looking for them. Marco came to conclusion that-"

< That your brother was a controller? >

"Yes, he was, and still is." I said bitterly, "That day we decided to go and check out the Yeerk pool, Tobias told us that Elfangor told him that was where the Yeerks feed every three days. We acquired powerful morphs and found a Yeerk pool entrance. Inside I saw my brother there, he was an involuntary host there were a lot more than him in the Yeerk pool, maybe a couple hundred. We decided to attack it, of course that didn't work out very well, I almost saved my brother but failed, and Tobias got trapped in morph."

There was another dead silence as the head council thought it over and a lot of people from the crowd stared at Tobias, Tobias shifted his wings then ruffled his feathers and started to preen his wings.

It went on for quite a while, I almost went hoarse from speaking, sometimes they would put all six of us to be questioned at the same time, sometimes some of us, sometimes one of us, there was quite a big fuss kicked up when it came to telling the council what happened at Leera and when we had to explain about Cassie and Karen, Cassie ended up shouting, "But not all the Yeerks are bad! Most of them are dragged in to this stupid war!"

An even bigger fuss when Cassie explained about the Yeerk peace movement. Right now Tobias, Cassie, Ax, Rachel Marco and I were being questioned about David. Of course, David was hearing all of this and he was being questioned too, but he was almost at a side.

< So you realized that it was a mistake? That you shouldn't have made him an- > He looked at me.

"Animorph." I responded, almost robotically.

"We didn't have time to decide," I said for the millionth time, "He was unconscious, and while we were talking he got up."

< Ah, yes, but you said that Marco and Aximilli were against it while Cassie, Tobias and Rachel were for giving David the morphing power, you said you didn't give your opinion. Now I ask you, if you have had the time to cast your vote, what would t have been? >

What was it? Yes or no? I thought back three years and imagined myself in the ally, what would I have said if David had not wakened up? Would I have left him for the Yeerks? Would I have given him a chance?

No, of course not, we didn't know him, he was a stranger, his parents were controllers, he had no place to go and every Yeerk within miles knew his face and name, there was absolutely no way that I would have said that I…Yes, I would have, I realized slowly. I would have given him that chance.

"I was undecided." I answered in a loud clear voice.

< But to who's favor were you? >

"I believed in giving him a chance." At the corner of my eye I saw Cassie smile, David was staring at me.

< If you were to make that decision again, what would you have done? >

No, that would have been my vote, no way would I put ourselves in that position again, Tobias killed, me finished, Rachel a lunatic, Marco dead….

I looked at Cassie. Then said, "I would have given him another chance."

< When you found out that he was a traitor, what did you do? >

"I sent Tobias after him because he was already morphed, he had a head start on Ax and I who were keeping watch in our natural forms."

The councilor looked at Tobias < What happened when you chased him? >

< I wouldn't call it chase, I was following him and he didn't see me, I lost him after a while and tried to find the others. >

"At that point, Ax and I were already at David's home, we reckoned he would be in there. And he was." I paused slightly, "Before went in I told Ax to stay outside, I told him I wanted to go in alone. He kept watch on the van full of Hork-Bajirs."

"When I went in I saw David in Eagle morph, I also so a red-tailed Hawk in there, a dead rd-tailed Hawk, the same species' of Tobias's bird morph, so I thought it was him. The bird was dead. And David had killed him assuming that it was Tobias."

"But it wasn't!" David yelled suddenly.

"You thought it was."

"No I didn't I just wanted to make sure-"

"You killed him," I said tightly, "Then you boasted about it, you said that Tobias was the first and that there were only five left."

"I was bluffing! I was rattling your chain, man! I was just scaring you!" David almost screamed.

I didn't reply, just stared at him.

< Then what happened? > The Andalite asked.

"David got away and Ax helped me escape, the Yeerks chased all three of us." I paused and tried not to look at Rachel, "I then told Ax that I thought that Tobias was dead, and I told him to. I-" I felt something tighten in my throat, "I told him that David did something terrible to us, and that we had something terrible to do as well, then I said, Get Rachel."

Silence. Dead silence, it wouldn't exactly take the Andalites a few days to figure out what it meant, and if you think what I was talking about was that I had to kill a fellow human, then you're wrong, dead wrong. David was a traitor and he deserves it.

What they realized was that since I had a bit of dirty work to do, who did I call for? Rachel. And what did they know about Rachel so far? They knew that she was on the violent side. What I just said confirmed that she was a bit more than just violent.

And it confirmed that I knew she wasn't exactly mentally stable.

< And? >

"I chased after David, I fought with him and I lost, I almost lost my life that day."

< And you still believe that he should have a chance? >

"At that time, no. But know, I think that if he put behind what he did and what we did, I think we would be on good terms."

< What you did? What do you mean by that? > He looked at me questionably.

Cassie laughed bitterly, "You'll hear soon enough."

He looked at her and frowned.

Rachel said, "Ax came and called me, he told me what happened and we trace back Jake's route, we saw that a police car was heading towards one of the malls, we decided to follow it, when we came closer to the complex, Ax and I saw that there was a lot of broken glass from the windows and we decided to go in. I saw Jake in tiger morph, sprawled over the ground, he was bleeding, and he looked pretty much dead to me.

"We went in looking for David, I heard an alarm ring and I told Ax to see what was wrong, I demorphed and started heading down when I saw David coming towards me, he tried to kill me in lion morph."

"I did not!" David yelled, "I said that I wouldn't take down a human!"

Rachel spun round "Oh really?"

"I said I wouldn't dream of killing a-"

"But it was all right to kill a human which morphed an animal?" She spat, "It was all right to murder a bird which had a human in it and it was perfectly okay to murder a tiger like there wasn't a human controlling it."

"That's not what I meant!"

"You said it yourself David," Rachel said coldly, "A human? No. But an animal? Sure, that's not murder."

"You liar!" He yelled.

< Enough! >

David shut up and Rachel scowled.

We told them what happened afterwards, that David had us cold, that he was threatening us, that we either give him the blue box or our little secret is out.

< And what did you do? You gave it to him? >

"Never!" I said hotly, "I'm not stupid. He said that he was going to use the blue box to create more of us, he was crazy, Cassie also thought that he would use the box as a bargaining chip to the Yeerks, David wanted his parents back."

The council member looked at David, < Did you understand what you were doing, do you know what would have happened if the Yeerks had gotten hold of it? >

"Yes, I was very aware of that point." He said scornfully, "I wasn't going to give the Yeerks the blue box, no way, I'm not a moron."

"But wasn't that what we concluded about you?" Rachel said nastily, "That you're nothing but a moron?"

David clenched his fists.

< Then what did you do? How did you resolve the situation? >

"Our plan was to kill him." I said with a sigh, "But we realized we couldn't do it, no one wanted to kill him. So we came up with another plan, a plan that would solve our problems-"

"And how happy it was for you." David hissed, "It was the psycho path witch who figured it out right? No, wait, I'm wrong, it's cold calculating Marco."

Silence.

< What are you talking about? >

But David was not paying any attention, he was glaring at us, "Which one of you was it? It had to be either Jake or Marco."

I wanted to say it was me, I opened my mouth, "You're-"

< Would you kindly explain what you are talking about? >

"It was me."

David froze, he slowly turned around and stared at the person who had thought up his fate, he was very surprised that it wasn't Rachel, it wasn't Marco, it wasn't me.

"It was me David," Cassie said softly, "It was my plan, I couldn't let them kill you, I thought of it as immoral, I couldn't face my self thinking I had just let us kill a human deliberately, no matter what he did- "

"Immoral!" he hollered, "Immoral! And you thought that what you did was moral? You thought that trapping me as a rat was moral!!!"

"You tried to kill us, you could morph, we needed you out of the way." I said, Cassie looked like she was going to cry.

The Andalite stared at Cassie. < So that's why he lives? Because of you? You humans trapped him in another body, you made him a nothlit? >

"It was a terrible measure," She whispered, "But he threatened our very existence. We had a war in our hands, what should we do?"

What should we do?

What should have we done?

The questions echoed in my brain and the answers came in fast.

Maybe I shouldn't have threatened him.

Maybe I should have been a little bit more forgiving, more understanding.

Maybe I shouldn't have questioned his choice of bird-prey morph.

Maybe I shouldn't have hesitated when we gave him the power to morph. Maybe I should have.

We went on explaining the things that happened, Crayak, the Ellimist. Drode. Howlers. Helomacrons. The Arn and Aldrea. The Gatron. The Andalites that pretended to help us, Estrid, Arbrat, Gonrod, Aloth. The differently able Mertil and his loyal companion Gafillian.

So many things we did, so may things that we achieved. Yet a lot of things we have lost. So many difficulties, loss, anger, exhaustion, despair, fear, helplessness.

And then it was finally over, the hearing that was actually a trial, it was done.

Lirem looked at us, the Animorphs, of who we are what have we became, he looked especially at me, < I think that it is spectacular that you little group of humans and this young Andalite had met a lot of aliens, you have seen the fabled time matrix, you have traveled backwards and forwards in time, you have met the Ellimist and informed us that there is another power rival to his, I think that it is only fair to give you a long rest before you join the military Aximilli, and you humans have proven yourselves worthy of the honor of joining the Andalite military >-a small murmur passed- < And know I ask you, do you wish to continue fighting the Yeerks? >

I thought about it, knew that my answer was yes, I also still knew that the Animorphs were my responsibility, I looked at my friends, Marco and Rachel were for it, Tobias hadn't said a thing so I was very sure that he was. I looked at Cassie. Yes, but she was a little bit reluctant.

"Yes."

Lirem smiled.

I looked at Cassie and saw that she looked like she was going to cry, I heard her whisper softly, "Jake? When is this going to end?"

I took her had into mine and looked at her soft dark brown eyes.

"Until we end it Cassie. Until we end it."

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