disclaimer: anyone shown from the Animorphs series does not belong to me.
i breathed heavily. i stared at my surroundings once more.
red. everything was that one simple color-the color of blood. even the items that were black were bright red. human bodies lay on the surface of the Yeerk Pool and floor.
i saw a human Controller stand with a dracon beam in his hand, placed to the highest setting.
i walked up to him slowly.
"Andalite Bandit." he said in disgust.
i nodded, though i was human. kill me,
"my pleasure. see you in hell." he smirked as he placed the end on the dracon on my forehead and pulled the trigger.
forgive me, Elfangor, i whispered as i felt a cold blade on my head and saw his face. forgive me for what i have done, i said the Andalite ritual of Death as my life no longer belonged to me.
i heard a soft melody i hadn't heard in years, i saw a family in a valley. i smelt my mother's home cooking, which smelt great, only to find out that it tasted very bitter. i saw every good memory and every bad.
then, i knew it.
i was finally dead...
and you know what? i didn't care a single bit...
the next week
a young, pregnant, woman sat near an open coffin, crying. a man that looked as if the only reason he lived was to fight, held the woman near him. they just sat there, silently.
the coffin wasn't plain black like others-instead, it was covered in pictures of a strange tree unknown on Earth.
next to the coffin, there was a picture of a young girl, probably thirteen. her eyes glimmered a bright green in the photo like emeralds. her blond hair was streaked with blue highlights and reached her shoulders. her skin was a medium tan, which fitted her.
but inside the actual coffin, there was no body-just some clothes, jewelry, some hair that looked like the girl in the photo's, some hair from the woman, a cluster of strange blue fur, photos of a cheetah and a photo of the tree that was used to decorate the coffin.
the woman glanced up at the male. "we can't tell the twins about the war like what we did before. we have to keep it a secret from them for their sake," she pleaded.
the man nodded. "we won't-we'll never let them know about the war or the Yeerks." he agreed as he helped the woman up and they left.
sixteen years later
"it's so nice to finally be here again, in the place where we grew up-even if it's only for a while," Lyzah said a she walked around inside a house. she glanced at her twin Tobias.
"don't ya think?"
Tobias laughed. "first of all, we did not grow up here-i lived with our uncle and aunt while you lived with a foster family. second, we never even been here before!"
Lyzah laughed along. "yeah-but it's still nice to be here,"
the two teenagers grabbed their suitcases and placed them in the two guest-rooms in the house. when they were back downstairs, they saw their parents coming out of their bedroom.
"huh? who's there?" their mother Loren asked, rubbing her eyes. when she saw them, she rubbed her eyes again. when she knew it was really them, she hugged them. "i thought you two couldn't make it this weekend!"
"we wanted it to be a surprise," Lyzah said.
"well, you two did a good job-i nearly had a heart attack when i noticed you two here!" their father Elfangor admitted.
"how can you have a heart attack when that isn't your normal form? don't you remember you're an Andalite, Father?" Tobias stated.
"oops! no wonder i wished i had a tail when i heard your voices!" Elfangor joked.
"'an Andalite with humor?', as Marco said from before," Lyzah quoted.
"very funny." Elfangor replied with sarcasm.
"now, what do you two want for breakfast so we can start cooking-i mean, so your father can start cooking," Loren asked.
"anything you want-we don't care as long as we're back," Tobias answered.
"and Mom, why aren't you doing the cooking? i never met a man who knew how to cook without burning himself like Marco's dad-except Marco himself," Lyzah wondered.
"that because-" Loren started.
"let's just say she burns everything she tries to cook-even water," Elfangor yelled from the kitchen.
"hey!" Loren countered. "but who's the one who needs to be told which item does what?" she faced Lyzah and Tobias. "you two probably want to go explore around the house-this may take a while,"
there was a crash coming from the kitchen. "shoot! i thought we moved these pans out of the cabinet!" Elfangor shouted.
Loren sighed. "go on while i help your Father." she rushed to the kitchen.
"where should we start?" Tobias inquired.
his twin shrugged. "we could go in the basement,"
"but there's no light there!" he countered.
"we can morph, Bird-Brain." she stated.
"easy on the bird jokes! i was one for three years, remember?!" Tobias said.
"oh yeah. come on. maybe there's some rats you can eat," Lyzah joked as she ran down the steps to the basement.
"hey! i do not eat rats anymore!" Tobias quoted as he ran down to catch up.
when they reached the bottom of the steps, they found out that there was light and quickly started searching in the stuff Loren and Elfangor had moved down there.
"ompf!" Lyzah said when she tripped over something.
Tobias rushed to her side and helped her up. "you okay?" he asked as she brushed off the dust from her clothes.
"can hawks soar?" was her reply.
he laughed. "what did you trip over?"
"um..." she picked up an old, dusty, box. "this,"
"what does it say here?" Tobias blew on the box, making the dust leave but, he blew the dust right into Lyzah's face.
"hey! watch where you're blowing! i have asthma!" she complained.
Tobias ignored her whining and read the words. "Lyzah, look at this," he showed her the lettering on the box.
"'Eliza Lyann-Terri.'" Lyzah read. "who's Eliza?"
"i don't know. open the box-maybe we can find out then," Tobias suggested.
Lyzah pulled out a pocket knife from her jacket pocket and opened the box.
"where in the world did you get that?" Tobias wondered.
"Marco gave it to me for my late wedding gift," Lyzah replied as she pulled the flaps on the box.
"funny-Rachel's gift to me for a late wedding gift was some Red-tail and Bald Eagle feathers," Tobias stated as he pulled out a photo. "weird girl-looks nothing like us," he gave Lyzah the photo.
"emerald green eyes, medium tan, BLUE AND BLOND hair?! yeah, if you put her next to us, nobody will ever guess we're related." she pulled out some birth papers. "look-she was thirteen when we were born, so, she'll be twenty-nine this year,"
"should we bring those up and ask Mom and Father why we never heard of this Eliza?" Tobias asked.
"be my guest." Lyzah joked. "wait, did i just say that? i need to spend less time with Marco," she slapped her head, very hard, on the nearest box.
her twin laughed as he helped her to stand up. "Rachel does the exact same thing-except she looks for a brick wall when she starts talking like Marco."
"she does? on a brick wall? that's got to hurt," she stated.
"it does but, she can morph out of it-and once she does, she does it one more time." he quoted as they raced up the steps.
Loren was at the doorway of the dinning room. "i was just about to call you. come on-breakfast's ready,"
they nodded and entered the dinning room. as soon as all four of them were finished, Lyzah pulled out the papers from her jacket.
"Father, Mom, who was Eliza Lyann-Terri?" she asked.
Elfangor' and Loren's eyes opened wide. they glanced at each other.
Loren pushed Tobias and Lyzah into the guest room Lyzah was staying in. "your Father and i need to talk." she said simply. she locked the door when she left then rushed to the basement where Elfangor was waiting.
"they don't want us to find out." Tobias muttered. "i guess we morph if we want to hear."
"rat?" Lyzah wondered.
"you morph rat-i'll morph fly since i don't have that morph." he answered as they began to morph.
they ran/flew down to the basement where Loren and Elfangor was talking.
"i thought you got rid of her stuff!" Elfangor exclaimed.
"hey, i was blind after they took Tobias and Lyzah. i just got back here last week. how am i supposed to remember to throw away Eliza's things?!" Loren countered.
"never mind that-we need to hide the rest so they won't find out what happened to her." Elfangor started to gather all the boxes marked with Eliza.
what do they want to keep secret from us? Lyzah wondered.
don't ask me-i can barely see a thing with these eyes! Tobias replied.
"i can't bare looking in her stuff again. i always see her eyes, staring at me when i do." Loren admitted.
"it hurts for me too. i see her face staring at me. her eyes staring in pure hatred for telling her about the war." Elfangor said.
did i just 'hear' what i think i did? Tobias asked.
they told her about the war! Lyzah repeated.
"why did we tell her in the first place, Elfangor?" Loren inquired.
"we needed help fighting and we didn't want her to become one of them." Elfangor answered.
why did they chose her? Lyzah whispered.
why did they want to save her? Tobias muttered.
"why did we tell her if we knew that if she couldn't stay free for long, that she would chose to kill herself when she had a chance?" Loren pushed some boxes to a corner.
"i don't know." Elfangor piled some other boxes on top of the ones Loren had pushed into the corner.
"why did she have to die? why?" Loren asked.
"i don't know." Elfangor repeated as he stroked Loren's hair.
she's dead?! both Tobias and Lyzah yelled at the same time.
"Tobias and Lyzah will find out about her soon. they'll figure out the truth," Loren sobbed.
"then, we just won't let them find the truth if it'll keep them alive." Elfangor quoted as he helped Loren off the floor.
why do they want to keep her a secret from us if she's dead? Lyzah wondered as she shuffled up the steps.
how should i know? i just found out about her too, Tobias said as he landed on Lyzah's rat head.
by the time they were demorphed and back in their room, Loren and Elfangor left the cold memories behind in the basement.
Marco' and Lyzah's home
"so, you two are saying you guys saw a box of things belonging to a girl named Eliza Lyann-Terri?" Marco asked the twins as he sipped a coke.
"have you been listening, Marc? we looked inside the box and heard our parents talking about Eliza." Lyzah stated.
"what? Gabriella and Xena teaming up to kill me?" Marco wondered, jokingly.
Lyzah and Rachel laughed.
"actually..." Rachel started. she grabbed a paper. "i can see it now..."
"'An Animorph Wife Kills Animorph Husband.'" Lyzah fake read the title of a newspaper on the sheet Rachel held.
"'Animorph Sister-in-law Helps Murder.'" Rachel finished the 'newspaper' headline.
Marco clutched two invisible daggers and fell sideways out of his chair-luckily, they were in his and Lyzah's home. "Gabriella and Xena strike again!"
for fun, Lyzah and Rachel morphed an arm each into Hork-Bajir's and held their wrist-blades at his neck, causing to fall again. they laughed as they demorphed their arms.
"not funny." Marco said through gritted teeth.
"what can you do about it? you can't kill war heroes-and do i have to remind you you're one yourself? and if you kill either of them, i'll sue you," Tobias threatened. "f-"
"sure. sue a team-mate for killing your wife and twin. go ahead and sue me." Marco interrupted.
"for a hundred grand." Tobias continued.
"what?! hundred-thousand bucks?!" Marco exclaimed. Marco stated muttering about how he couldn't pay a hundred grand.
"i think you need to change it to one million, Tobias." Jake suggested.
the chat went on like that-the price growing larger by a hundred bucks each time-for a hour or eleven p.m.
"i think Marco's got the idea guys." Cassie stated as Lyzah and Rachel were about to tell Jake and Tobias to make the price higher. "it's late-we'll talk again tomorrow."
the others agreed and went their ways.
in L.A., that night
a cloaked figure wrote two notes saying:
Going to the Animorphs' town. I'll be back in two months. and, Gonna be at the Animorphs' town for a few months. Good luck on your finals!
the figure placed the first note next to a sleeping man and the second, the figure slipped under a door.
the figure walked outside and turned to the house again. the figure's emerald green eyes shimmered in the darkness of the night. tears fell from the jewel colored eyes, onto the pavement.
"goodbye..." the figure whispered into the wind. the figure ran off into the darkness, heading towards the Animorphs' houses.
fifty-five days later
Jake and Cassie waited for the others in front of the grizzly bears and red-tailed hawks. they arrived in a few minutes, unaware someone was watching them, at that very moment.
but, Tobias noticed her soon. he pointed at a woman wearing a cap and sunglasses. the woman ran quickly. he walked up to two female cops.
"is something wrong?" the darker skinned one asked.
"i thought i saw someone leave without paying. she was wearing all brown clothing, cap, and sunglasses." Tobias explained.
"your name?" the Hispanic one asked as she wrote down what he said on a notebook.
he shook his head. "can't tell you that-only initials: T. F."
they nodded and left the Gardens.
Tobias returned to the others.
"what did you tell them?" Lyzah wondered.
"code, meaning b." he replied as the six left.
code meaning b, he had said-meaning, he thought he knew the woman.
Tobias'
old meadow, three days later
the Animorphs-minus Aximili, plus Lyzah-sat in Tobias' old meadow, just chatting about what they would do later.
how did you know me?! a voice demanded from the Animorphs.
they jerked, and glanced around.
"who said that?" Rachel inquired, not so nicely.
i'll give you hints to who i am: emerald green eyes, blue highlights in blond hair, medium tan, part Andalite. it said.
"part Andalite?!" Cassie nearly yelled.
yes, part Andalite. do you have an idea or what? it replied.
"none." Jake and Marco said quickly. they were lying.
"no idea." was Cassie' and Rachel's answer. also lying.
Lyzah and Tobias didn't reply as quickly. they winced slightly before they did.
"don't know who you could be." they replied after a few minutes.
i know you all know who i am. at least, my name. even Aximili knows who i am. a little message that Elfangor left in his disc that only Aximili could hear. actually, i told Elfangor to put the message in the disc. but, i will find out how you know before you know my past. it half threatened. you will hear from me soon.
a falcon flew away.
"Eliza." Lyzah and Tobias muttered together.
"i thought you heard Loren and Elfangor say she was dead!" everyone else quoted in union.
"we did too." they stated.
thirteen years later, Aximili's family Scoop
there was a knock at the 'door' of Aximili's family Scoop. the Animorphs and Andamorphs jerked from inside the Scoop, unsuspecting more people.
Aximili opened the 'door' to reveal a cloaked figure with a female the age of the Animorphs and a man somewhere in his forties.
can we help you? Aximili inquired from the trio.
"you can... Uncle..." emerald colored eyes shown from inside the cloak.