A/N: I won't tell you how many chapters are left, but it's safe to say this story is entering a final arc as the Animorphs attempt to track Tobias, Rachel and David down. Meanwhile, I present to you Rachel once again; there is a warning that this chapter contains psychological trauma and mentions of violence; I know I haven't warned much in the past chapters (which I should when I go back to edit once this story is done), but I was feeling a little tingly writing this, so I don't want it to be too triggering. Read on if you may!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

::Rachel::

It was impossible to shut out whatever David and Tobias were saying through that god-damned television. But hearing Tobias say that he would destroy David sent a chill down my spine.

"No, Tobias..." I whispered. "Don't... don't be like me..."

Tobias had learnt to accept the predatory side of him a long time ago. But he was a bird-of-prey, that was a natural instinct. Him as a human? Marco used to term him 'dweeb'. There was no way, no way that I would let Tobias become a monster.

Like me.

Tobias and David were talking. I couldn't tell what. I heard the words 'construction site' and the memories of that day came flashing back to me. I remembered how Visser Three swallowed Elfangor whole and I shivered. I remembered how I yelled at a Hork-Bajir and it came chasing after me and my heart was pumping so fast as I ran and screamed and now I was screaming out loud as well –

"AHHHHH!"

The wires around me cut deep into my skin and I screamed again.

The door clicked.

My head shot up and I could feel my veins were about to burst from the pumping blood within.

It opened.

A shadowed figure. Then a flash of light. The room was lit once again.

The moment I saw his face, I wanted to die.

"Hello, Rachel."

I looked away, gulping deep breaths of air. Oh my God, oh my God...

"Wow, not being so friendly, are we? It's been a long while, you know. Thought I'd have a better reception than that."

"What are you doing here?" I whispered, feeling bile rise up my parched throat. I swallowed hard and cringed at the bitterness of it all.

David laughed and the sound of it seemed to pierce through my skin. He tucked what looked like a remote back into his pocket. "Oh, didn't you hear it all? Shame, I spent so much money trying to fix this system up and you mean to say you weren't paying attention? I thought you'd be more attentive to what your boyfriend is going through."

"Stay away from Tobias!" I yelled as I turned to glare at him.

"Aw, how touching. The two of you are always looking out for each other. No wonder you wanted to kill me so bad when you thought I had murdered Tobias back then."

"You want me? You got me. Now let him go."

"Not so brave now, are we, Rachel? Ooh, it's like the lion who lost his courage in The Wizard of Oz."

"And you're the tin man who lost his heart!"

"Still got your wits about you. See, I had to make sure you still had that so that I could have a decently fun conversation with you."

"You're psycho!"

David made a tutting noise as he walked closer. I flinched with every step he took. "Not as psycho as you are, Rachel. I see you took my mantra to heart. Don't kill a human. But an animal?" His eyes glinted. "BAM!" I shuddered with the explosive noise he made. "No second thoughts!"

I opened my mouth, but tears were blurring my eyes. I hated myself for looking so vulnerable then, but I couldn't control it. There was nothing in me that could spur me to say something that could cut him deep inside, because he had completely torn everything within me... that bastard...

"You should see yourself now, Rachel," crowed David. "Such a pathetic sight!"

I screamed. He laughed even harder. "Oh, to let those god-damned slugs hear you in their bubbling pits of hell! It'd be heaven to know that their enemies, the so-called Andalites, are being ruined by a single human being. They'd love me. They'd worship me."

Just then, a sharp ringing tone pierced through the tension. David sighed and rummaged through his pockets to produce a cell phone. Even in my terror, it registered to me that David sure had the bucks. Setting up a surveillance system like this? And now a cell phone?

"Hello?" David answered, his eyes still on me. I looked away, shaking.

"Oh hi, Melissa!" David's voice had melded into something completely different – something more... wait a minute. Melissa? As in...

I turned to stare at David, who was now a bit more engrossed in the conversation. "What's up? I mean... hello? Hello? Can you hear me?"

David pulled the phone away from his ear, then sighed dramatically. "Sorry, bad reception. Guess I'll have the chat with you again later, Rachel. I miss having such intellectual talk."

With that, he got up and left the room. I bent my head to my knees to stop my teeth from chattering.

His voice was the worst nightmare. It was the worst each time after a huge battle. It wouldn't be the piercing sound of Dracon beams or the smell of sizzling burnt Taxxon flesh and iron in the same room, not the roars of dying Controllers and Hork-Bajirs or the gory sight of one of my detached limbs on the floor. It would be his voice – his cries every single time. His pitiful, mournful cries for help when he first abandoned him, then his wrecked, pleading voice when I last faced him. And now he was back.

Tormenting us. Torturing me.

‹Rachel? Rachel, can you hear me?›

I sat up straight, hardly wincing anymore with the pain all over my body. "Tobias? Tobias!" He had to be nearby, a room not too far away, for me to be able to hear him.

‹Rachel, I hope you can hear me.› I trained my eyes on the television screen where Tobias was lying against the wall, head tilted back and eyes closed as he breathed hard. He drew the back of his hand past his bloody lip, then lay there limply. ‹I hope David's not doing anything to you.›

I could hardly control my breathing.

‹Listen to me, Rachel, don't ever give up. This whole thing is a nightmare and I know some part of you probably feels weird. There's something David has done – he's responsible for this whole shenanigan and he seems to have made this whole thing quite twisted. Even us – I don't know how and what he has done, but I don't have my wings and... and I think there's something wrong with each and every one of us.›

He began to cough quite violently and I stiffened.

‹But whatever it is, don't let him get to you. You hear me? You're Rachel, fearless warrior princess. Nothing can get to you and that creep has no chance in hell. Don't let whatever's wrong with you get you down either. Do what you can – fight it, fight yourself, fight him... get yourself out of there and find the rest. We're going to make it out of here, alive and kicking, and we're gonna take that jerk down!›

I could feel the tears well up in my eyes again. Of course, he wouldn't know that I could hear everything between him and David earlier on. But the thought of him encouraging me to keep going despite knowing what a monster I was made my heart ache.

‹Rachel. Fight.›

He uttered the last word so desperately, but yet so assertively at the same time.

Fight, Rachel. Fight.

A queasy feeling was pooling at the pit of my stomach. Fear was pumping into my system once again. No! I couldn't let fear run through me. Couldn't!

"The Yeerks want us," I whispered. "Why would David tell the Yeerks he has us? He's not a Controller. He's not one of them."

Oh, to let those god-damned slugs hear you in their bubbling pits of hell! It'd be heaven to know that their enemies, the so-called Andalites, are being ruined by a single human being. They'd love me. They'd worship me.

The Yeerk pool. It was here. It was nearby. We were in a Yeerk facility. My mind raced through all the possibilities. David would have to be a Controller in order to enter – yes, he was in another human morph when he first entered Tobias's room! He was masquerading as a Controller.

God-damned slugs... in their bubbling pits of hell...

Then it dawned upon me.

He still hated them.

He still hated the Yeerks to the core, because they were the ones who had taken his parents away. They had ruined his life as much as we had. As much as he hated me, he wanted to be the one to bring them down too. After getting rid of us, he would use our captures to get into their good books, then destroy them from within.

Fight, Rachel, fight!

I was trembling so hard, but I clenched my fists and teeth.

David was trying to make one too many deals with creatures who had no respect for human beings. This was not going to be a pretty ending.