A/N: Flashbacks are underlined.

Chapter 1

Tobias skilfully flies through my open window, landing with only a slight twitch on my desk. I tower above him.

(David! You've got to stop running of like this! Just get a hold on yourself until after we complete this mission!)

"I don't think so, Tobias. If I go back, all of you will always be on my case. I don't think I could cope with that. I mean, for a start, what's with Jake? Who picked him for a leader? Marco? Rachel? You? And besides," I say, gesturing around me, "I'm having so much fun…" And with that, I start morphing to golden eagle. I notice that I'm getting faster at it already, and I can tell that Tobias has noticed as well.

(See how much better I am than your sorry group, you pitiful nothlit? Death would be a blessing to you.)

(David,) Tobias says, stepping - or the equivalent for a bird- backwards. (Let's talk about this.)

(I don't think so), I say, and swoop down towards him.

Quickly! Just as I reach him, I raise my talons. Faster than I was expecting, he dodges to the left, and leaves me grabbing at empty space.

(You are forgetting that I am more skilled in a bird morph than you, David.) Tobias taunts. (Being a nothlit has its uses. Next time, relax your wings; you put weight on the direction you're heading.) Inside my head, I growl in frustration. As much as I hate to admit it, He's right. I may have the better morph, but he has months of experience. I notice that he gives me hints on my flying; he doesn't take me seriously. As I flounder, he moves to strike, but knocks over a lamp, alerting me to his movement. It is too cramped in here for him to have an advantage. I know that his hawk instincts want air, space, and room to fly.

Inwardly, I smile, and move to block off the window. As I move, he strikes! I turn and glide backwards, out of the window, and swoop away in search of a thermal to glide on.

Tobias

As I see David obliviously fly away from me, I take off from my perch and land on a nearby Mc Donald's to plan my next point of action. This is one of my favourite places to stop at during my daytime flying. There is a litter of mice nearby, and seeing the customers exiting, eating their burgers, helps me to remember Tobias the boy, who would often come here to find something to. I was so normal then… I give myself a mental shake, and catch an updraft from the heating vent to search for David.

As I fly, I think about David, how it must feel to get his whole life turned upside down. When I found him, I had thought that I could persuade him to see sense. After all, I knew we could relate to each other. I knew how it felt to always be a new kid, to never have any friends. I think I didn't realise how far down he ad really sunk into the jaws of darkness. I had hoped that we could have been friends, maybe not a shorm like I was to Ax, or as happy as I was with Rachel, but someone who would like me and allow himself to be liked back.

In a way, it reminds me of how I'd been around Jake when I first met him, before Elfangor… I'd been desperate to please him, desperate to make friends with him. I had endured Marco's snide jokes, and his forced friendliness. They didn't know me fully then- when I look back, I don't think I knew myself. When we were given the morphing power, I so wanted to be accepted into their group, and to be treated as they did one another- laughing, joking, and always looking out for their friends.

After all, I wanted to show them I could be trusted: I morphed an animal first- my pet cat, Dude- I had been so excited, not with the violent enthusiasm of Rachel, but happy to be accepted. I wanted to show them all that I was brave. It already seemed so long ago…

I sat in my room, stroking Dude thoughtfully. He was sat contently in my lap, cleaning himself. I never know why cats do that. They're just going to get dirty again five minutes later. In had just got upstairs, after having an argument with my uncle about being late back home after going to the construction site. He had gone to bed. It had been strange to be all of a sudden whisked back into reality, after encountering so many strange things. Finding Elfangor, getting the morphing power, seeing Visser Three… Then all of a sudden, being back home getting shouted at by an angry uncle. Thinking about it, I wasn't sure if it really had all happened to me. Then I thought about what the Andalite had said: "You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern, and you will be able to become that creature." Deep in thought, I stopped stroking Dude. Could it be possible? Could I really turn into an animal? All of a sudden, I noticed Dude again. "I wonder…" I said aloud. Looking down at Dude again, I shut my eyes and began to focus on him, on my pet cat, one of my only loyal friends. Almost immediately, he slipped into a sleep-like state. I gave a start, and Dude opened his eyes and leapt of my lap, and began to pace. Had I 'acquired' it? There was only one way to find out. I closed my eyes, and started to think about what it would be like to be Dude, confident and happy, safe and secure. As I concentrated on Dude -or his DNA pattern – I opened my eyes to hear a frantic yowling.

I looked down, and with a gasp I noticed that my hand had grown claws. Real, life, cat claws. I tore my eyes away from my hand to look at Dude. He was sitting on the floor, making scared sounding noises. I had to get him out of my room, before he woke my uncle. I focused on Tobias again; the nerd, the bully magnet, the loner. I looked at my hand: human skin.

Quickly, I picked up Dude and placed him out onto my lonely landing. I stepped inside my room, closing the door behind me. I sat down, and focused on my cat once more.

Looking back, I realise just how vulnerable I was then, a small, quiet boy, with no place to go, no one to protect me from the evils of the world. And now…

Whenever I was in my hawk morphs, I never felt worried. Never felt scared. I would always be letting the hawks instincts trickle into my own: I had a job to do. I would do it. But then, all of a sudden, I was trapped. Seemingly forever.

I hid in the cavern, watching as Jake in tiger morph fought against Visser Three. I watched as Visser Three morphed into that… thing. As I waited until the coast was clear, I felt a deep calmness, a serenity fall over me. I remembered what I was like when I was in my normal form, as Tobias, the weakling. I remembered about how no one ever noticed me. I thought about how calm the hawk was, how it always knew what to do, how to fight. And I waited, fully aware that my two hours were ticking away, but not doing anything about it. Or maybe, I was subconsciously trying not to think too hard about a way out of the Yeerk Pool, a way back to my human form. Maybe, I wanted to stay as a red tailed hawk.

Then finally, finally the coast was clear. I silently glided away, away from that filthy Yeerk pool, telling myself I would never return. And then I tried to morph back. Believe me, I tried. I strained with all my might, focused on myself, on Tobias, for so long, that nothing else seemed to matter anymore. ..No friends. I tried, until my very mind ached with fatigue. And then, I glided up, up into the air, and welcomed the blue, open sky around me.

I glide up, up into the air. For more and more lately, I have been reminiscing about who I used to be before The Elfangor.

And even when I'm on a mission, my mind drifts, at the worst possible times. Like now.

Pain! David strikes out of nowhere, talons raking into my bare flesh. (Miss me, little nothlit?) He asks, out of breath. Inwardly, I grimace. (Fine then, David. I've tried reasoning with you. I've tried helping you. And now, I'm going to have to kill you.)

David

It surprises me how ruthless Tobias sounds. Whenever I'm around him, he's always so calm, so precise. Like he thinks through whatever he's going to say twice through his head before he says it. Bu now, he sounds angry. Frustrated. Tense.

(Strange, Tobias) I yell. (I thought the Animorphs were meant to be a nice, friendly group. Not soldiers. Just friends. Or maybe Jake didn't fill me in well enough. Maybe he didn't tell me properly what your little group is. Well he should have told me,) I say bitterly. (He should have told me everything. But now it's too late. Too late for you. Too late for Jake. Too late for the Animorphs.)

(David. So in control of yourself. So sure of the eagles talents. Well maybe you should have picked a faster bird instead.)

(Why) I say, despite myself. (Because the eagle is nothing. Do you hear me? Nothing, compared to my hawk's speed.) And with that, he speeds away, with me in pursuit. I know what Tobias's plan is. He wants me to chase after him, to tire myself out. This angers me, and I power on, barely a meter away from him. Angry with myself, and him, I speed up. My fury at him speeds me on. My breath comes out in sharp, halting, gasps. But still I power on. I follow him up some thermals, as he readies to do a death-defying dive. But instead of diving, I pull away at the last minute, leaving him to speed towards the ground; oblivious to the fact I'm not behind him. I speed away, and perch on a nearby church steeple to catch my breath and wait for him. I sit, my back turned to the direction I left him from. I know what he'll do, what he'll rush into without thinking. I am ready.

A fluttering of feathers! I hear Tobias, speeding towards me, determined to knock me off my perch! I dodge at the last possible second leaving him floundering in the air, and then I strike! I let the Golden Eagle's mind take over completely. It is a well-aimed hit, just above the tail, and it sends Tobias plummeting towards the ground.

Tobias

I curse myself for being so stupid, so ignorant. I'd thought that David would not be thinking clearly, would be arrogant after the chase. But I had underestimated his stamina, and rushed into finding him, failing to see the trap he'd set up. As I neared the earth, a meadow looking slightly simpler to my own, I just wished that I could see Rachel one, last time…

David

Tobias hits the ground with a thud. He is dazed, and does not say anything for a few seconds. (Surprised, Tobias?) I ask (Did you think you could beat me? Did you think that your pitiful hawk morph would be enough?) He says nothing. Then: (Jake… and the others…) His voice is weak, and cold. I feel a flicker of sympathy for him, but stamp it out. (They… will find you… and kill you…) (What? You mean they'll succeed where you failed? I doubt it. I'm going to hunt them down, one by one. Oh, and don't worry. I'll make sure that Rachel has a long, painful death.) As I expect Tobias to, he starts to morph, to a Hork-Bajir, a fearsome creature, one that could beat my Golden Eagle any day. (I don't think so.) Tobias's is injured, and his morphing iswas sluggish. I use that oppurtunity to deliver a final blow. ( Goodbye… nothlit.) And with that, I open my wings and catch a sudden gust of wind , and streak towards him, talons aiming for his heart, as his body startsed to change. My talons embed deep into his heart. He lets out an involuntary shudder, then dies.

Strangely enough, his lifeless body automatically demorphs, back to the hawk ( I didn't expect that to happen) I say to myself thoughtfully. I am sure he is dead, but even so, I demorph- I have only half an hour left- and then pick up the red tailed hawk. It is strange how pitiful he looks now- almost as if he were sleeping.I smile to myself, and start the long walk back to my house, back to me. Back to David.

A/N: Well, I said I'd make my next chapter longer, and I think I did a relatively good job. I might of gt a bitt carried away there with the Tobias flashbacks; What do you think? Just review it. I welcome constructive criticism about absolutely ANYTHING to do with this story, so just type out a quick –or long- note about it… please? Next Chapter, David and Jake!