An: Lucky you guys, a new chapter so soon xD

Chapter 11
Marco

The last couple of hours of school dragged on, and the walk home was slower. We couldn't act suspiciously, so we acted as normal, Jake coming with me.

Walking passed his house, I caught sight of Tom, heading inside. He had a phone pressed to his ear as he fumbled with the door, I couldn't help but watch him. Was Visser Three really standing there in front of me? Tom slammed the door shut behind him, snapping me out as we came to my house.

Rushing up the steps, unlocking the door, Jake and I rushed upstairs, dropping our bags along the way.

Erek was sitting in the armchair which he brought closer to the bed, and he was mumbling to Ax, who was awake, staring up at Erek and completely avoiding mine and Jake's entrance. Erek looked up at us, but Ax must have said something, because he mumbled again, before getting up and heading towards us.

"He's not lucid. We're talking about what he did in school today." He looked back over to the Andalite, "He thinks he's talking to Elfangor. He'll ask about something his brother must have done and I have no idea how to answer him."

"Probably doesn't matter." I said quietly.

"Probably not." he shrugged, "But I don't want to upset him either."

"True." I nodded.

"I had to clean his hooves a couple of times like Cassie told me to, and I've had to bring him out to the pool at least four times." he seemed to sigh.

"Have you heard anything new?" Jake asked, and Erek looked at him.

"Visser Three's new host-"

"Tom, my brother. Yeah I know," he said when Erek looked surprise, "It's hard to miss him no matter what body he's in. Why Tom though."

Erek shrugged, "Something stupid, Visser Three was going to punish Tom's Yeerk anyways, so figured making him hostless for a while is a good enough punishment, and Visser Three has an emergency host."

"So, doubtful Visser Three is going to randomly infest my parents?"

"Doubtful, Tom's Yeerk will eventually get his host back."

"You still need to be careful man." I reminded him. I heard the front door open, Cassie probably.

"Yeah, I should leave now. I'm supposed to be grounded." He nodded to Erek, took one last look at Ax and left. Greeting Cassie as he passed her.

Erek filled her in as I moved over to the chair beside the bed. Ax moved his foggy green eyes up to me, his head tilted back slightly.

"Hi Aximili." I said softly.

((You are not Elfangor.))

"Nope. I'm Marco. You know me."

((I do?))

"Yea. I'm your insanely funny friend. And smart, don't forget that."

((Oh...))

"So what did you do today?" I asked him. He started explaining a subject he completely lost me a few words in. That didn't matter, he was awake, and at least he wasn't calling me Elfangor. I rested my hand on his head, patting down damp fur. I realized his whole body was damp, weather is was from his swims, or from fever.

((-They came around today.)) he said softly, snapping my attention back to him.

"Who did?"

((Princes, from the fleet. Taking our names for Aristh training.))

"Did you sign your name?"

((Yes. Of course I did.)) he replied, sounding offensive. ((I have been waiting for this after all.))

"Of course." I nodded, "So how come you don't sound happy?"

((Promise not tell Mother or Father?)) he asked. Great, so he was back to talking to Elfangor.

"I promise." I said softly, and he nodded.

((I am a little scared. What if it turns out I am not good enough to be a warrior?))

"I doubt that." I said, "In fact, I believe you will become a great Prince one day."

((Of course you do. You always say that.))

"Well then, it must be true." I said, slightly pleased with myself, "You have nothing to worry about. You'll be a great warrior, and one day, you're going to go down in history as a great Prince, mark my words."

Ax seemed please and he gave me a smile. ((Well, that does sound great...))

"Of course it is, and better yet, it's true."

((You cannot predict the future.)) Ax laughed.

"Sure I can. Just like I know one day you going to meet a really funny guy and you're going to become great friends."

((Marco.)) Ax said, nodding seriously. I was a little thrown back by my name.

"What?"

((I'm tired. I think I should sleep.))

"Sure." I said, as he closed his eyes, falling quickly to sleep. A shiver ran through my body, and I let myself think of Elfangor for a moment, hoping his spirit or whatever was watching over his brother.

"How is he?" Cassie whispered, coming up behind me.

I shrugged, "Lost in his own world. He just finished telling me, Elfangor, how he just signed up for the military."

She sighed, crawling up onto the bed and feeling Ax's forehead and frowned, moving Ax's head so it rested normally and not tilted back, "I don't know what we're going to do." She whispered finally.

"What about just guessing? Give him some antibiotics?"

She shook her head, "Though I'm tempted, what if I give him the wrong ones? Some illness' respond badly to certain antibiotics, and some medications, if you use them when they're not needed, can do more harm than good."

We sat there, Cassie absently soothing a hand over Ax's face, I guess what you'd consider his cheek.

"I kissed him." I blurted out suddenly, "And I shouldn't have. He's sick, what if he wasn't even lucid at the time? What if he remembers and freaks out?"

Cassie smiled, "Marco I doubt Ax will 'freak out'." she said shaking her head, "So you kissed him? What else?"

"Just kiss." I said quickly.

"Did he kiss back?"

"Well... Yeah."

"And did he randomly call you anything other than Marco?"

"Well.. No."

"Then he was probably lucid and you're worrying over nothing."

I still felt guilty, "I let him morph though. Erek said he'd have a flare-up."

"And as you said, Ax morphed while you were sleeping, and he didn't hear Erek say that."

"Yeah." I said, feeling deflated. I'm not sure if I believed her, but she tried. We paused as Ax shifted around, his head tilting back again.

"He must be uncomfortable, laying like this." Cassie sighed, as Ax shifted again, a wave of irritation that wasn't my own, washed over me.

"I think so." I chuckled, reaching under the blankets and taking one of Ax's many fingered hands. I felt him give me a gentle squeeze as he shifted again.

"So, Jake is living with Visser Three."

'Yeah, and he's pretty stressed about it."

((Why are you talking about him?)) Ax groaned, shifting his head away from us, his hand squeezing mine again.

"We're not, not really." Cassie said, "Visser Three has taken over Tom for now."

((Oh, that is not good.))

"No Ax-man, it's not." I chuckled, "But don't worry about that right now."

((Alright. My hands hurt.)) he whispered.

"Muscle pain?" Cassie asked as I brought his hand up to look at it closer, not that I could see much through the fur.

((No, like the circulation has been cut off.)) Cassie frowned, taking his hand from my, fanning the blue fur back to see down to the skin. She was silent as she looked, but finally she placed his hand back in mine.

"Maybe from you laying down?" she said softly.

((Maybe.)) Ax said softly. ((You said something about me morphing?))

"Yeah, try not to." I said, gently rubbing his fingers one by one, "Erek said you'll probably have flare-ups if you morph."

((There are certain things I can't do as an Andalite.))

"That's true." Cassie said nodding, "So only morph when you absolutely have to." she took the thermometer, "At least it seems like your temperature has gone down."

Ax blinked his eyes open again, looking up at me, giving me a small smile. Cassie ignored us, checking the number and nodding to herself, taking the pot of stale water out of the room.

((Have you already been to school?)) he asked quietly and I nodded.

"Yeah, you've been out for a while man." I said softly, "Your fever was pretty high all day, Erek said you were talking nonsense."

((Oh, last time I was sick Erek said we had some interesting conversations. Did he say what we talked about?))

"Well, you told him about your days at school." I laughed, "Though you could have picked something more interesting. You were still out of it when I came home-" I paused.

((What?)) he asked, blinking.

"Well, you were acting like- you were talking to Elfangor." I shrugged, avoiding his eyes.

((-oh.)) he replied softly, lowering his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, ((Andalite children tend to get sick a lot, especially during storm season. Human's would call them colds, nothing serious and very common. I always seemed to get sick every time Elfangor came home on leave. He would spend hours by my side, talking about his adventures, complaining about other warriors, his Princes.)) He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, I caught sight of Cassie out of the corner of my eye, but she made no move to interrupt.

"He really cared about you, didn't he?" I said softly, and Ax nodded slightly.

((I loved him. Everyone loved him actually. But Elfangor always went out of his way for me whenever he could.))

We fell silent, and Cassie moved into the room, "Here Ax, have some water honey." As she placed one of his hoof in the pot, she turned to me, "Rachel and Tobias are outside. I think they're arguing again."

I rolled my eyes, but nodded. Whatever, they could deal with their own problems. The front door opened and slam shut. I heard Erek's voice downstairs and Tobias answer him back, the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Where's Rachel?" Cassie asked, frowning as he came into the room. Tobias shrugged, but didn't elaborate.

"Hey Ax-man." he said, coming over, "How are you?"

((Tired. Everything hurts.)) Ax sighed.

"Yeah, Cassie told me what happened yesterday." he said, sitting on the bed, spilling a little of the water.

((You can move that if you wish.)) Ax said softly, and Tobias did so, placing the blankets back up over the Andalite.

"Erek said there's been no new information yet." Tobias said and I nodded, "The Bug Fighter has moved a few hundred yards, but they're still too close for my liking."

"Do you get the feeling of being trapped? Because I certainly do." I mumbled and Tobias nodded slightly.

((With the Yeerks knowing that the Andalite Bandits could be sick, they think they have the advantage.))

"True." Tobias nodded, "And who would think of Visser Three being in a human body, especially a teenager?"

I heard the front door open again, and I quickly gave Ax's hand a squeeze and put it down. He blinked at me, but when Rachel stormed into the room he nodded.

"Stupid. I just saw Tom walking up the road. I could have totally taken him out."

Cassie sighed and Tobias looked at her. So that's probably what they were fighting about.

"Rachel, stop over reacting." Cassie said, "We all said to just sit still. The Yeerks don't know that we have the Chee watching them. We can't give ourselves away. Be thankful it's close to exams so a bunch of kids going to one house everyday after school wouldn't be that unusual."

Rachel glared at the floor, "Never said I was going to, just that I could have." she moved around Cassie, coming closer to Ax, "Anyways, how are you feeling?"

Ax laughed lightly. ((Not much better.)) he said simply and Rachel grinned.

"You've probably said that a few times now, huh?."

"Guys, I really hate to be a damper, but I really need to study. We all might as well." Cassie said.

"Call your parents, tell them you're here." I reminded the girls.

We grabbed snacks as Cassie and Rachel phoned their parents, telling them they were over here studying. The girls grabbed pillows and brought them up to my room. Over a few hours, the three of us studied, Ax and Erek correcting us or adding information in.

Finally, every one left, and Erek went downstairs.

"Tired Ax-man?" I asked, shutting the curtains to block out any light.

((Yes.)) came the soft reply, Ax was already half asleep.

I settled in the chair, placing my legs up on the bed, "Well, get some sleep then." I yawned. Ax didn't reply, but I listened as his breathing began to even out

It must have been an hour I laid there, half asleep, but not fully managing it. Finally, I had enough, shifting over to the bed, I laid down next to Ax, making sure his arms were out of the way and not bent awkwardly.

I must have jostled him because a green eye cracked open, and he seemed to give me a small smile before settling back into sleep. I got a little more comfortable, and this time I feel right into sleep.

AN: Okay that felt like a filler chapter.