Disclaimer: It don't belong to me. Never has. Never will, except that Elspeth is my character. There is a reason for that name, largely 'cuz I couldn't think if another. This is a crossover of Animorphs, and The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
Yeerk's Worst Nightmare
One year ago:
My name is Elspeth. I was a fourteen year old, in my first year of high school. You could say that I am something of a martial arts nut. I have taken karate, tae kwon do, and tang soo do. I practice when I can between baby-sitting jobs. That is largely how I make money to keep going to classes. I really like most off the kids I sit for. They think of me as their big sister.
This is why one night I when was watching this one little boy, when his parents went to this new club called the Sharing, I was worried enough to listen.
"Elsie, I'm scared. Mom and Dad were talking last night. They said that they are going to have me infested tonight. What does infested mean? Is it something bad?" he asked in a quavering voice.
I was confused by the question. 'Infested?' Infested by what? I thought.
"What do you mean, hon, by infested? The only kind of infesting that I know of is by ticks, termites, and other nasty stuff. Yeah, you could say it is bad," I answered. "When were your mom and dad talking about this?"
"Last night after they thought I was asleep. They said I was a problem and that I needed to be made a full member."
I was getting very confused. I decided to ask his parents after they came home.
"Don't leave tonight, please! I'm scared!"
"It's okay, sweety, I won't let anything happen. I'll stay for a while to make sure everything is safe," I said reassuringly. I wished someone would reassure me.
His parents came home around 11p.m. that night. I was sitting at their kitchen table trying to study for my next test. It was a real killer.
They came in, surprised to find me still there. They had told me to put their son to bed at 9 and for me to leave after he had gone to sleep.
I looked up and said," He was afraid for me to leave him. He was very worried about something. It had to do with being infested."
They looked at me with consternation. I wondered about that. "Is there lice going around the school?"
They looked kind of relieved. I felt the back of my neck start to tingle. Something was majorly wrong here. "You guys spend a lot of time at the Sharing, don't you?" Stall, was all I could think. Keep them talking and maybe you can find something out.
"HEY! INIS 7690, YOU GOT THE KID YET?" came a voice form the garage.
I stood up, and the lady tried to break a dish over my head. I deflected it. The little boy had woken up, and walked in. No! I thought. I promised nothing would happen to him!
Adreniline pumping, I grabbed the broom and swung it like a bo staff. I had knocked out the father and was heading for the mother, when all went black.
I awoke in hell.
I was in a cage filled with crying, moaning, screaming people. There wa a line off calm, sedate people who.. who leaned over this murky, lead colored pool, and this disgusting slug fell out of their ears. They screamed and struggled as soon as the thing had left them. The other line was of people who struggled, their heads were dipped into the ooze and walked away calm as you please. I figured out quickly what my charge had meant about 'infestation'.
The next few months were the worst of my life. I was made into a host. Nothing was my own. My arms, my legs, my eyes. Not even my breathing. There was this constant taunting voice, forever reminding me of my loss.
The worst part was seeing the little boy become a host, a Controller. I had promised to keep him safe. I had failed, and that guilt was worse than anything the Yeerks could do to me.
Then, on the day of the first attack of the Andalite Bandits on the Pool, I felt hope again. We were free. I found my little boy, and we ran.
That was when Visser 3 started firing off those fireballs. My charge was incinerated by a blast at point blank range. I had only a little time to grieve, before I, too, was incinerated.
Rachel
It's hard to believe that we've been at this for a year now. One whole year of combat, of terror, of seeing things no free human has ever seen. Weird.
We are all in high school now. Cassie and Jake have been a steady item for a while, but other than that, nothing has really changed.
I was on my way back from the mall, when I noticed something strange. A girl was wandering around in a daze. She was walking into people like she didn't see them. Them she walked into me. Her clothes were a bare minimum.
"Hey, are you okay?" I said. She didn't answer. I grabbed her shoulder.
"I asked if you are okay." I repeated. There was this blank look on her face that made me wonder if she was high on something.
She sat down, and I sat beside her. I pulled out the black shirt that I had just bought. The temperature outside had been dropping a lot, even though the mall was pretty warm. She looked dazedly at the shirt, then put it on.
"Who are you?" I asked in my be-kind-to-the-stoned-idiot voice.
She looked back at me, acknowleding my presence for the first time.
""GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed. She ran out of the mall, knocking several people out of the way as she did so.
Elspeth
Whowhatwere? WhereamI? WhoamI? My thoughts ran together in a snarled tangle. I couldn't make out anything, not left from right, up from down. I wasn't supposed to be here. I should be somewhere else. I had something to do. I needed to find… I couldn't remember. Whowhatwherewhen….
Marco
"I saw Rachel help the doped up lady sit, and then saw her run away. I went up to her to ask what had happened.
"I don't know. She just got a good look at me, and screamed."
"Guess your good looks aren't quite so good, huh, Rachel."
"Knock it off, Joxer. I think she really needed help. I'm going to, uh, you know, and follow her," said Rachel.
"Well, you might need back up, so I'll go along."
"Suit yourself."
Elspeth
My name is..my name is.. It just won't stop. Nothing is familiar, nothing seems real.
What the hell is going on here?
Flash
(This has got to be hell…I think, as they dip my head in the muck.)
Did I just remember something?
Encouraged, I sit down and start repeating everything that goes through my head.
Doesn't work.
Feeling frustrated, I reach out to grab a stray can, trying to throw it.
Flash
(I see an old man drinking from the can, and tossing it on the sidewalk. He is then grabbed by someone and shot for 5 dollars)
Whoa.
I start walking again, hoping to see something familiar…
Rachel
There is definitely something wrong with that girl. She sat down on the sidewalk and never noticed the people around her. I said in thought speak.
Yeah, I know. She's heading for the school.
Elspeth
A school.
I wander into the building, and around in the hall. I feel like this place is familiar. It is good. I can just almost reach out and touch my memories, if I just see a bit more.
The gym. This is where I started to learn…
I caught of a girl in the big mirror in the dance studio. I see that she is tall, has a strong frame. She has curly blond hair and brown eyes. She is me.
Flash
(Hana, dol, set, net, taset, yaset, ilgup yadol. These are numbers that I learned in my first martial arts class.)
Then the memories hit me. Going to my favorite kid's place to sit for him. Being made into a Controller. Dying. Dying at the hands of Visser 3.
"NOOOOO!" I scream.
Some teacher hear me and run in. I look at them. They are Controllers. I feel rage. A need for Vengance. For Justice. Maybe then I could rest.
They look at me, like they can't believe what they are seeing. They run.
I laugh.
I walk out of the gym. I see two birds of prey in a tree outside the school doors. I walk out of the building. A large crow lands on my shoulder. Yes, I can feel it thinking. We will make things right.
Rachel
Rachel, Marco said.
Yeah? I replied.
If I wasn't in osprey morph I think I'd wet myself.
Same here, Marco. Same here.
We watched as the girl with the crow on her shoulder walked off, then saw the crow fly away. We went to Cassie's to tell the others what we'd seen.
Well, tell me what you think. Is it weird, or what?