A/N: My first Animorphs story but not my first story ever.

Warnings: The facts in this might be wrong but I haven't read all the Animorph books.

Disclaimer: ...I dont own Animorphs. Duh, considering this is a fanfiction.

Tobias' POV

So this is what it's like to die…

Lying there on my back in the grass, all alone in the darkness, I could sense the wet, runny mask of my face. Tears? Blood? I couldn't be sure, couldn't be sure I even had a face, couldn't be sure about anything except the screaming pain in my body with the shallowest of breath I took.

I can't move…somebody help me.

With a ragged cry, I tried to lift my head, tried to peer through the endless night around me. I thought I was dreaming. I could see the faraway sky blazing bright, lit by a fire—and along with those disgusting smells of pain, fear, and despair that threatened to choke me, now there was the smell of gasoline, smoke, piercing hot metal, and something else…something dear to my heart.

Mom! That's mom's car!

She'd been sitting in the front seat beside me. She drove in an incredibly fast pace, speeding beyond measure. I'd been staring at the moon. That blood red moon, so beautiful, yet so dangerous—it was hovering there behind the trees, glowing out through the dark layered fabric of the clouds. I'd been staring at the moon, and then jolted with the sharp swerve of the car. Confused and groggy, I heard my mother's shout, the screeching shriek of brakes and the skidding of tires; I'd felt the road give away as we dove off the crest of the hill, and out through the foggy night, rocketing down and down into abyss…

Mom! Can you hear me?

I knew somehow that I hadn't really spoken out loud, somehow I knew that my thoughts had burst free of my pain, only to silence among the shadows. It was dark out there. So dark, so frighteningly at rest, except for those flames leaping and popping against the horizon.

Something ran in front of us.

With a groan, I tried to clear out the fear in my mind, struggled to focus on my unorganized thoughts.

My mother tried to swerve, she tried to avoid hitting it, but it ran in front of us.

I wish I could remember. I wish I could remember what had caused the accident. But there was only the briefest glimmer of memory in that last second, only the briefest picture of something caught in the headlights as the car veered and forgotten the road.

What was it?

Somehow, it seemed familiar…

But my thoughts were growing dimmer…so dim…and I knew I was sinking towards my death. Desperation controlled me, causing me to stare at the trees surrounding me overhead, great branches etched against the blackness of the sky. Then I noticed the moon again.

So full and round. So red like crimson. Caught in a web of tangled limbs, oozing out through the clouds, wine stains on velvet.

Mom! Please help me!

And that's when I heard it.

The gentle rustling sound, like the wind whispering through the trees. I couldn't feel any wind, not even the softest of breezes, not in this heavy night air.

The sound was nearby.

Coming even closer…

Oh God!

Terrified, once more I tried to lift myself, to scream for help. But the noises where in my head now, in my thoughts and in my fear, like so many insistent whispers, whispers of great significance.

As my head turned helplessly to one side, I saw shadows surround me, slinking slyly along the ground and through the trees, slivers of black and pale gray, and sparks of amber light.

Panic exploded within me. Even with the paralyzing numbness of pain and shock, I sensed the brutal, wild shadows, and sensed why they were here. Instinct told me that I was enclosed; though one stood closer than others. I could hear the slow, quiet rhythm of its breathing as it watched me from a place I couldn't see.

Do something! I said to no one in particular.

I thought of my mother. The picture of her burst inside my head with such force I came to gasping and hacking and gagging up blood in the grass. In that one moment of agonizing clarity, I saw her midnight eyes, heard her calm, sweet voice telling me not be afraid. Now I remembered how she'd turned to me in that last second, her eyes desperate with helplessness and disbelief as she'd reached for my hand. Did she touch me? The thought drifted through my mind, light as feather. Did we touch one last time?

But the whispers were louder now, and the fire was brighter than ever, and I was so weak…so exhausted.

Night swayed around me. Something huge and dark leaned in over me, blocking my view of the sky.

I braced myself for the end. Felt hot breath caressing my throat…smelled the faint, familiar scent of something sweet…

Mom, I'm so sorry.

"Your mom is gone," the voice said. "Only I can save you now."

Down, down I sank…into the endlessness of time.

Who are you…? What are you…?

And that voice…fading far into nothingness…

"Tobias…there's no name for what we are…"