The Remains
PROLOGUE:
A lone Andalite fighter circled slowly down to land on Earth's surface, unseen by anyone. It settled in an old, abandoned construction site in the middle of a silent city. The city seemed frozen in time, frozen in a silence of many years.
A single, battle-scarred, Andalite warrior stepped out of the ship. His stalk eyes swiveled slowly around, looking. Searching. He had a look on him as if hiding much sadness. And as he looked around the place where his brother had once been, a time which seemed so long ago, he began to morph. A human boy slowly emerged from the alien form to glance around. And it seemed so familiar...
AX:
It felt like so long ago that I had stood on this soil, a time apart. And yet it was as familiar as if it had been yesterday. I was the only thing changed...and the city...
We knew the Yeerks had given up the attack on Earth. They had planned to destroy Earth and incinerate every living thing on the surface, unable to get all the human hosts. We Andalites had saved some of the humans and a few animal species. But not everyone. Hardly even a small portion of the human race and all the wondrous things of Earth. But it was something. A brand new ship had been sent to transfer everyone. My human friends insisted on calling it The Ark. It was something from a human book called the Bible. I did not understand completely at the time, but it did seem fitting.
In the end, the Yeerks had not destroyed the planet. But they had destroyed some of the things on it, and then completely abandoned it. Earth was completely free of human life, yet animals roamed freely over the planet. Cities remained, completely silent and abandoned. It was eerie. We could not allow the humans to return, for the Yeerks would surely renew their attack now that the human race was so few. They did not know which planet the humans resided on now.
And as I walked the streets of where I had once walked, so long ago, I felt sad. Not just for the humans, but for the planet itself. It had lost it's species, it's most sentient race of humans, and was abandoned. By everyone.
I remembered how this place had been once, when I was just a young aristh stranded here. A vibrant, wonderful, living place, full of people and their inventions and buildings. Now it was silent and still.
Visser Three had been killed. My human friends with the morphing capabilities had been among those saved, and had been transferred with the rest of them to a new planet. It was still not their home, though. And I knew that they all missed Earth.
The Andalites leave their home world to travel space, but it is different. We know that our planet is our true home, and return. The humans would never return to Earth, at least not anytime soon.
I went towards the forest, the buildings giving way to tall trees and overgrown meadows. And as I walked through the woods I passed a very familiar meadow. A bird of prey - a falcon, I think - swooped down after a mouse. Earth's cycle of life and death continued still, but without it's superior race. The field was full of animals...but no Tobias. Tobias would probably never return. I continued on.
I found myself at Cassie's house. I walked into her barn and saw piles of rotting wood and rusting cages. It felt so familiar and natural, I could practically see the ghosts, the us of the past, and almost hear the whispers of conversations from before.
I remembered it all so clearly, so vividly. I remembered the dangers, the thrill, the rush of battle, the fears, the happiness, the sorrow. I remembered all of them, my human friends. Prince Jake, who would have my loyalty forever despite the fact that I was now a war prince myself. Tobias, my nephew and my shorn. Rachel, a true warrior with bravery to be admired. Marco, having lost so much and yet still optimistic. He could have almost been an Andalite, sometimes. And Cassie, who understood so much and was such a caring person asking little in return. I had not seen them in years, and I missed what I had had in the past.
I left the barn. It held too many painful memories, yet it felt so good to remember the past, to remember...I turned back towards the city.
My footsteps echoed on the streets, now overgrown with grass. I almost demorphed to Andalite to feed, but I did not. Human form seemed right in this place, despite the lack of inhabitants.
And as I walked among the remains of the city that had once been so strong, I cried. Something that Andalites cannot do. I had never been in human morph after I left Earth...it did not seem right. And now I was human, the only human on the whole planet. And so I cried for Earth, and for the humans, and even for my people, the Andalites. I cried for the Yeerks, that they would someday realize all the hurt and pain and terror they inflicted on so many species. And I cried for myself.
Then I returned to the construction site...still not finished, not ever...and reboarded my ship. I demorphed to Andalite and flew away, leaving behind the remains of Earth that might never be lived in again. And in that desolate place I left the remains of what I remembered, the memories of my time there. My time with my friends on Earth among the humans that had once seemed so powerful, so sure of themselves, and now were diminished to almost nothing. In the remains of my life I left bits of my soul and I knew I would never return. But with the bitter memories and remains I also left hope. Hope that someday, sometime in the future, the humans would be able to return to their true home. Tthough the hope for the human race had almost disappeared, it had not died. Hope could never die. And the war with the Yeerks was not over just yet...