Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Animorphs!!

Jake

After taking a moment to think, I chose the tunnel on the left. My motto had always been: when in doubt, go left. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm left handed or because my bedroom is on the left side of our house.

I didn't know what was down any of the three tunnels, so my best guess was that they all led to the same place. We all walked slowly down the rock tunnel. As of right now, we had no idea where we were, what the date was, or what we were supposed to change.

((Prince Jake.)) Ax pardoned. ((Excuse me but I believe my inner time sense is now returning. Your planet spins much more quickly in this year.)) I exhaled slowly and stopped walking.

"So how long are our days?" I asked him.

((They are approximately six of your hours shorter.)) Ax responded. I rubbed my temples.

"Eighteen hour days?" Marco asked. "Sweet! So what year is it, Ax-man?" Ax shook his head.

((My clock system has not yet fully adjusted to this time period. It will take a few more hours for it to be completely tracked and-)) I cut him off.

"Shh!" I cautioned. "Do you guys here that?" The others stopped and listened for a few seconds before we heard it again. Thud-thud-thud-thud.

"Footsteps." Cassie whispered. Marco and Tobias nodded in reply. "If we act natural, like we belong, maybe they'll mistake us for Controllers." She thought aloud. We all agreed that it was a good idea, and went walking forwards in a single-filed line like so many others had done.

We got to another one of those rooms in the cavern and stopped slowly, expecting to see some big burly Hork-Bajir guarding a concealed Yeerk pool.

What we didn't expect was to see Rachel, facing in the opposite direction.

"I don't think they're here. Let's go and look somewhere else." She was quietly pleading to no one in particular. Marco whispered something about Rachel finally losing it and I smacked him upside the head. The noise loudly echoed on the high walls.

Rachel turned quickly and broke into a large grin. "Guys!" She screamed happily and ran towards us. We all welcomed her back with a large group hug which even Ax participated in.

"He said that you would be in here. He led me through the caves and I've been following him all this time but I never thought he knew where he was going!" She sobbed.

"Who's he?" Marco asked her. She gazed at him with genuine confusion.

"Jake. He's right behind me." She replied turning around. "Or at least he was right behind me." I saw Ax give her a quick but skeptical glance. "You guys, he was right here. He brought me to this large valley behind some mountains and led me here to find all of you!"

"Wait. You saw Jake?" Cassie questioned. "Aren't we supposed to find him and help him out with his life?" Rachel nodded.

"Yeah. He saved me from the two controllers who almost sliced and diced me!" She told us.

"Are you sure Rachel? I mean, you might've hit your head pretty hard back there." Marco asked. Rachel shot him a glare. I could tell, the rest of the Animorphs wanted to believe her but they were still a little skeptical. But I knew how to prove it.

"What did he look like?" I asked her. Marco threw up his hands.

"Like that'll make a difference! There's probably a million people who look like an older you, Jake, and- oh!" He ranted, finally getting what I meant.

"Well, he was tall, dirty, and handsome." She began. "He was really tough, like not body-builder strong, but like 'I can take care of myself and get my own food' kind of toughness. He had lots of cuts and bruises everywhere and had dark, serious eyes; like Jake's; and long, shaggy hair that obviously hadn't been combed in a while." She laughed. "He was wearing brown, kaki pants and a white muscle shirt that was stained with blood."

"What about a scar?" Marco asked.

"A scar?" She replied, looking confused.

"Yeah, this guy, did he have a nine-inch scar running down the left side of his face?" I asked. Rachel's face immediately brightened.

"Yeah! He did! He was also blind in his left eye!" She exclaimed. I looked at Marco and nodded. He slowly inched out the flyer he had kept in his jacket pocket.

"You've seen him too, then?" she asked us brightly.

"No, not in person. But Marco found this a little while after we got here." I said handing her the paper. Her face brightened more and more as she read it.

"He was talking about this." She told us. "He told me that he is the only free human in the universe left alive. And when I asked about the rest of us, he wouldn't talk." She summarized, placing the paper neatly on the ground.

"Why wouldn't he talk, I wonder?" Tobias asked us.

"Well, remember, the Ellimist told us that something was wrong with Jake's future? Something really bad probably happened to us that he doesn't want to talk about right now." Cassie guessed. I nodded.

"So, if we're supposed to help him then where is he?" Marco wondered.

"Try looking behind you." Came a deep voice.

A/N: wow this chapter was lonng!! Haha.. Uhm so yeah anyways to….

ani19: this WILL NOT become a marco/cassie fic!! That's gross! I was just trying to keep it in character. I mean do you honestly believe that Cassie would have her shirt off and Marco wouldn't be staring??

AKW: yeah it did get awkward, and this is going to turn into major JC so you know what Jake was thinking…. Lol. Gross.