Who is it? Why, it's me! Put the Fox in the Glade, and what do you get?

A fox in a glade. Duh.

Anyway, thank you to:

Crazy Computer's Vendetta: I'm honoured to have the Animorphs Restart author review my work! And honestly, I don't think it's all that interesting.

and, as always, metamorphstorm: well, you'll see what's next if you read on, won't you?

Now, read on! Thought speak in italics.

DISCLAIMER: I don not own Animorphs, the song "Fix You", or the phrase "Andalite Stutter". I also don't own the words "kakato", "heel", "munted, "horrendous", "Yeerk!", or the words, "everybody was kung fu fighting!", but that's a different story. I partially own "The Adventures of Ranko and Bidzy".

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Cassie's POV

It was just after sunset, and I had settled down to do my homework. It was hard to imagine that I fought an alien invasion everyday by turning into animals, and still had to worry about small things, like homework and boys.

Oh yes, I worried a lot over boys. Did he like me? Did he think I looked alright? Did these clothes make me look bad?

Anyway. I was just about to start when I hear a knock on the door. My father answered it. I strained to hear who it was, and heard this:

"Hello? Who are- oh!"

"Hello. You must be Cassie's father. Er. Do you know where she is?"

Oh boy. That voice was familiar.

"Yeah, I'll just- um, go get her. Cassie!" Dad yelled towards my room. I hurried to the front door, where my suspicions were confirmed.

It was Ax, in his human morph. And in his arms was a very dead looking Tobias.

***

I stifled a gasp. Quickly, I turned to Dad, and answered his questioning glance. "Um… Dad, this is Phillip, from school. I told him to bring any injured wildlife he found here. Isn't that right, Philip?" I said forcefully to Ax. Luckily he caught on.

"Yes. That is correct. Corrrrec – tuh. Corrrrectuh." he said with his usual weird way of playing with words.

I needed to ask what happened, but I couldn't in front of Dad, for obvious reasons. So I grabbed Ax by the forearm and dragged him towards the barn. "I'll just take care of this patient, Dad!" I called over my shoulder to my thoroughly confused father.

We walked into the barn, and I took Tobias gently out of Ax's arms. "What happened?" I asked him softly. He hid it well, but I could tell he was a bit shaken up from the experience.

Ax, with his usual aloof tone, described what had happened. "I was feeding near my scoop, when I heard screaming. Ing. I didn't recognise it, so I followed it to Tobias's meadow. I found him on the fringe of the clearing. He fell unconscious shortly after I arrived. Ived. I – vuh – duh. Arr – iii – vuh – duh."

I checked Tobias for his injuries, and hissed in shock. Six deep talon marks were gouged into his back, and one wing was snapped almost in half. I placed him in a large cage near the back of the barn.

"I'm going to give him some morphine – pain killer – now, just so he doesn't feel it if he wakes up," I explained to Ax as I performed what I was saying. "When the morphine sets in, which will take a minute or two, I'll set that wing so it heals straight. But while we're waiting, I'll clean those wounds on his back."

As I disinfected the gouges, I marvelled at my ability to stay calm. But then again, I had been doing this all my life. And it was so much easier if I imagined this hawk to be just another non-sentient creature, instead of a person, someone who I had come to regard as a friend.

I was just getting the wing ready to splint when Tobias let out a small, soft, whimper of fear and pain.

I froze; oh god. Had I set to work to early? Had he woken up when the morphine had not set in? I knew splinting was painful, which was why we used morphine. How would it feel to wake up in such terrible pain, in a place so different to where you last were?

But my fears were in vain. Tobias just gave a sigh, and said ever so softly, Go away. Please… go away.

I looked at Ax, my face a mix of relief, sadness and pity. "It's okay," I told him as he stared at Tobias with a worried frown. "He's just dreaming."

"What would he be dreaming about? Ing? Ing – uh?" Ax asked, still frowning.

I tried to remember the Tobias of old: a slightly dopey, sweet kind of guy, with dream like eyes and ruffled dirty blonde hair.

"He used to get bullied a lot," I said hesitantly. "You know, beat up and teased and that."

Ax looked a little confused, but I think he got the gist of it. He didn't ask anything else.

We worked in silence for a little while, but soon I just had to ask: "What are we going to tell the others?"

Ax looked up at me. "The truth, of course. Orsssse. We shall call a meeting tomorrow and tell the others. Ssssss."

I nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good."

So we worked on in silence, trying to fix our broken friend.

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Sorry for the last line, I had "Fix You" by Coldplay (I think that's who does that song) stuck in my head, so yeah. And sorry if I overdid the "Andalite Stutter" thing (how Ax plays with sounds) too much. Also sorry if the medical procedure in this chapter was messed up, and not the right thing to do. Why must you mock me because I am not a Doctor Doolittle type person? *sob*.

Love it, hate it, want it to die, want to marry it, couldn't care less… I don't mind, just review! And if you could tell me what flames are (as in, "No flames please" and "Flames will be used to roast those who send them"), that would be cool. Keep reading and reviewing! --FoxGlade