Disclaimer: I do not own Animorphs or any of the characters you recognise from the books. This story is written for my enjoyment and I do not get any money from doing it. I do, however, own my original characters other than the Animorphs aspects of them, so please ask if by any chance you'd like to use them in a fic of your own. I will probably say yes.

Authors Note: Hello everyone! I know you'll be mad at me for not working on my other fics. I do intend to tidy them up as much as possible. However I have planned this one, so hopefully it won't trail off somewhere in the middle like my others. It's a plotline I thought of for part 2 of Paradise Forsaken, but at the time I preferred the line I took. Then I realised it was too many books that didn't give me the opportunity to develop Aftran much. So this, I think, is better.

A big thank you to Sinister Shadow, my beta reader for this fic, to whom this chapter is dedicated, and whose planning system I used to plan this fic, because I am terrible at planning. (Read her fics, because they are fantastic).

Hope you like!

The ocean is a lonely place. At first I had loved being here, in this new body. Free, able to see, and hear, and touch. Life was certainly simpler. Yet after my elation at being free wore off, I began to miss my old friends. I started to feel guilty that I had escaped where the Empire would never find me, but they still risked their lives fighting for a movement I had introduced them to. At least I hoped they were still fighting. I didn't know if they had been killed- I didn't know if the war was over or whether it was still going on. If it was over, I had no idea which side had won. It was this constant doubt that was the most agonising.

I wasn't sure how long I had been here. A long time, I knew that. Long enough to give birth to and raise a calf. At first I hadn't acted like a humpback whale at all, other than what I needed to do to sustain my life, like eating. But in the end I decided it was easier to give myself over to the instincts than to try and resist them. Having my calf had helped me to understand the bond between mammals and their children, something as a Yeerk I had found difficult to empathise with. My life here was peaceful and enjoyable, and at first I had been happy. But now I wasn't sure whether I really should be here- I wondered if I was needed. After all, there were a precious few people on the Animorphs' side.

My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed I had stopped moving, and so had the rest of the ocean around me. I was frozen at the surface, so I could breathe, but I was very afraid.

( Do not panic. )

I had no idea where this voice was coming from, or who it was. But soon both were made clear. A dolphin surfaced before me, and looked me in the eye.

( I am the Ellimist, ) it said. ( You have heard of me, so let's save tedious introductions. )

( Wait… what… why are you here? )

He… it… sighed. ( I was actually about to tell you that, before you interrupted me. You are going to be needed. ) He told me.

( I was worried I might be, ) I said after a pause. ( But what can I do here, in this form? )

( I can bring you back to your Yeerk body, with morphing powers, and human DNA already available for you to morph. But I do not interfere in the affairs of other species. This has to be your choice. ) He went silent, apparently waiting.

( What, I have to choose now? ) I exclaimed.

He didn't answer. I guessed that meant yes.

I thought for a long while. But eventually I decided, that whilst I might enjoy this simple, free life, if I was needed, it really wasn't a choice. It was my duty.

( I suppose I must go back, ) I said.

He eyed me. ( Does that mean yes? )

( Yes, it does. )

( Very well. )

In a split second, I found myself standing on a beach in human form. There was no one else there, as it was a fairly cold day, and I supposed a weekday. Or it was the Ellimist's doing. The latter seemed more likely. The Ellimist was still there, now in his usual old man guise.

"You can stay in this form for two hours before you must go back to your Yeerk form, or be trapped as a human. You know where to find the human Cassie."

Then he was gone.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "You can't just leave me here! What about Kandrona? How am I meant to get that? Wait!"

He didn't reappear or make any answer.

"Oh, fine," I snapped, although no one was there to hear.

I looked around. I recognised this beach- it was the same one I had left when I had morphed the humpback. Luckily, I knew my way to Cassie's barn from here.

I set off walking, as there was nothing else to do, and I hoped to reach Cassie's farm before my two hours were up.

After a long, boring walk, I could see the barn and house in the distance. I sped up my walk.

I reached the back of the barn, and stopped. It had just occurred to me that I had no way to prove who I was.

I could hear voices. I listened carefully and distinguished the voices of Marco, Jake, Cassie and Rachel. That probably meant it was a full Animorph meeting and Ax and Tobias were there too, but I couldn't hear them because they were speaking in private thought speech.

Suddenly they went silent, and it occurred to me that Tobias might have spotted me. I began to walk to the front of the barn.

I pushed open the door, and before I was even properly inside Ax's tail blade was at my throat.

I held up my hands. "Wait, it's me!" I exclaimed. Then I realized how stupid that sounded. "Aftran," I clarified.

They looked at each other.

"Last time we checked, Aftran was a whale. So why should we believe you are Aftran?" Marco asked skeptically. "How did you get from being a whale to here?"

I explained about the Ellimist, and they began to look a little less suspicious. But only a little.

Cassie spoke up. "If you are Aftran, I'm sorry, but I'm sure you'll understand we really need to make sure who you are. And I have no idea how to do that." She glanced at the others.

They all whispered amongst themselves for a while. Ax did not move to join them, but I had no doubt he was communicating with them by private thought-speech. I kept very still, as anyone sane would do if they had an Andalite tail blade at their throat.

After a while they stopped whispering and Cassie stepped towards me.

"Aftran, if you are Aftran, there's only one way I can think of to tell if you're telling the truth…" she paused for a second. "I have a Yeerk morph."

"I know," I said, wondering why she was telling me this. Then it hit me. "Oh. You want to, for want of a better word, infest me?"

She nodded, looking a little guilty.

"Well, I can hardly complain," I said. "I've done it enough."

It felt very, very strange, and a little frightening. Cassie was, of course, no expert at wrapping herself around the brain so she kept hitting memory as she did so or suddenly taking control of an arm, leg or my eyes. She apologised and hastily backed away every time she hit memory, but it was still annoying and a little embarrassing. Of course, by the time she had fully connected with the brain she already knew I was telling the truth, without needing to look further.

(Sorry,) she said again.

(It gets very irritating when you continually apologise,) I answered.

(Sorry.)

I mentally rolled my eyes. (And don't even think about apologising for apologising,) I said, before she had the chance. (Can you tell that fool of an Andalite it's quite safe for him to take his tail away now?)

Yes, I was a little ticked off. And I was getting worried, because I would have to demorph very soon.

Cassie told Ax to take his tail away, and he reluctantly did so. It felt very strange to hear her talking with my mouth. She left my mind soon after that, to the relief of both of us, and I quickly demorphed and morphed back to human (a very tiring thing to do) so I would be able to communicate with them.

"What now?" Was the first thing I heard Marco say.

"About Aftran, or about our families?" Jake asked.

"Well, uh, both."

"What about your families?" I asked, puzzled and worried.

"Visser Three's finally guessed we're human," Cassie told me.

"And he knows which humans?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"He might," she answered. "He has our blood- it's a matter of time." She lowered her voice. "He already has a match for Tobias."

Jake cut in. "Listen, we need to get some sleep on this. Let's meet back here in the morning and take a vote. Meanwhile, what are we going to do about Aftran?"

I felt like a mini cliffhanger.

Please remember to review! I know it's a pain, but I love to hear what you think, especially any tips or constructive crit you might have.