Marco sank wearily into a seat on the bus. It was Monday and he had to go to school. At least there was one good thing. His class was taking a trip to the Animorphs Memorial Museum. He would be able to mess around for most of the day.
"Good morning. I am Mrs. Mattews and will be your tour guide today. We will be touring all four of the floors today. You will get to see what life was like 30 years ago. You will also be able to try the virtual yeerk machine, which shows what is like to have a yeerk in your head." Began the short and shinny woman who began their tour. "You will also be able to see what heroes the animorphs were and find personal background about them."
Sounded okay to Marco. Seemed like a nice place. He followed his class to the first exhibit.
Marco came out of the museum full of awe and wonder. He had found his heroes. To fight for humanity against terrible odds was heroism at it's best. How those six friends did it he would never know. Marco went crazy in the Gift shop. There were books about each of them. People who knew the animorphs wrote some of them. Others were written by the animorphs themselves. He bought every one he could get his hands on. He especially liked the ones about Marco, his namesake, AKA the joker and Rachel, AKA the warrior.
Marco loved Marco, the joker's, personality. He took everything with a laugh. He was smart too. He always saw from A to B. He did what had to be done. He admired that in a person.
In Rachel Marco lover how brave she was. She was always ready for battle. She still cared for people too.
The one thing Marco didn't like was the lack of details. There was nothing about the lives of the animorphs after the war. He didn't understand it. They had all survived the war. The tour guide had said so. They even all had e-mail addresses. Marco didn't know how, but he was going to find out what happened to his heroes!
Marco tried everything he could think of. He wrote zillions of e-mails to the animorphs. The eventually knew him by name. The only thing he found out after about a year came to him in e-mail:
Dear Marco,
I'm sorry that I can't help you more but I'm not allowed to. None of the animorphs are. We all signed an agreement that we wouldn't share anything about our experiences with anyone. Not even our own children can know that we were an animorph. (Yes, some of us do have children) According to the government some of the thing we did they don't want people to know. You already know how moralizing Cassie was. Well, some of the things we did are against some people's ethical code. There are also some things about Andalites they don't tell you. They want to portray us as the heroes that we are. Some people in the government disagree. They don't think we should have been let off so easily. We all have secret identities. Maybe some day the truth can be told. Till then I can't help you.
I'm so, so sorry,
Marco
AKA
The Joker
As Marco grew up he continued trying to find more about the Animorphs. He was not that successful. He knew from talking to the Animorphs and other Animorph fans how to tell if something was missing from the book. He continued to find almost nothing on the lives of the Animorphs after the war.
Everything changed for Marco when he turned Twenty-five. His mother and father had both died when he was twenty. They were killed in a car crash. Their lawyer called him and asked him to stop by his office that afternoon.
That afternoon Marco stopped by the office. Chuck, his parent's lawyer, invited him to sit down. "So what is this all about?" He asked.
"I have a letter from your parents that they wanted you to have once you turned twenty-five. They also left you a box that was to be given to you at the same time." Here they are.
Marco thanked him and left for home with the box and letter in tow. When he arrived he took them up to his room. He opened the letter first.
Dear Marco,
There is something you need to know. My name is not Mark. It's Marco. Your mother and I named you after me. Your mother's name was not Rachelle. It is Rachel. Your mother and I were Rachel and Marco from the Animorphs. This may be a shock to you but it is true. Do you remember the letter Marco, from the Animorphs, sent you? That was I. You need to know why the public doesn't know a lot about the Animorphs. I'm going to tell you.
Inside the box is the journals, letters and diaries that the Animorphs wrote from the year before they met Elfangor till their deaths. Some one needs to know what we went through. You are it.
I love you!
Marco
AKA
Your dad
Marco started crying. He opened the first diary. It was labeled The Invasion. He read them all. He couldn't put them down. He lived their lives with them. They went through terrible suffering. No one knew. They were more than heroes. And no one would ever know.