Epilogue

(Ax's POV)

I was in a room, all alone. Alone? No, there was something in a corner, something large and awe-inspiring. I took a step closer, and realised that I was in human morph. Strange, I pondered. What is the meaning of this dream?

But while I took a step closer to the thing-in-the-corner, a felling stirred inside me. Hadn't I already seen this before? Human morph? I *am* human now.

Aren't I?

Another step. And another. The thing turned. But unlike the first time I had witnessed it, it did not possess a blood red eye. Instead, it was a mist. Which spoke to me.

AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL, the voice began, soundless words reverberating inside my head, implanting themselves deep within my memory. YOU HAVE CHOSEN WELL.

Ellimist, I realised, and dropping to my knees was a reflexive instinct. Ellimist laughed. A shape began forming in the mist, solidifying rapidly until it formed the shape of an Andalite. Young, but with all innocence lost. An Andalite that had given up much to further a greater cause.

"That's me, isn't it?" I hadn't noticed that I was speaking until my own voice reached my ears. No longer cocksure and jaunty; with a tremor in it. I fought down my emotions and kept talking. "Or it was me. I used to be like that. Why are you showing me this?"

He ignored me. Instead drew his hand back and flung an object at me. I caught it, and looked at the thing I now held in my hand.

It was a necklace, thin cord threaded with disc-shaped beads (which on closer inspection proved to be melon seeds) bearing a pendant. I tested the edge with my thumb. It was sharp, which reinforced the possibility of it being a shark's tooth. Yet no shark bore teeth shaped like this. The milky-white tooth was about two inches long, but could not have been more than a finger-width at the base. Predominantly flat, it tapered to a point. Curiouser and curiouser… I looked up. The Ellimist was waiting patiently, but now he had taken on a different shape. An image of my brother stood before me.

"You're not real," I forced the words up past the blockade in my throat. "You're the Ellimist. My brother is dead." I paused for breath. "Why are you doing this to me?"

THERE ARE MANY LESSONS TO BE LEARNT, ANDALITE, boomed the Ellimist. CONSIDER THIS ONE OF MANY.

* * * * * * *

"Ow!" something whacked me hard in the back of the head, bringing me back to reality. I jumped up.

"Well, thanks for getting off me, although if you really wanted to sleep on the floor, I would have let you, you know." Erek sounded ticked off.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"Well, let's see. It's three in the morning, we have school tomorrow, you need sleep even if I don't, and you just fell off the bed, woke me up and crushed my trachea."

I snorted in the dark. "Bull. You're an android. You don't *have* a windpipe."

The reality of the scene was refreshing. I was me, still in human morph - although I shouldn't think of it as a morph, I reminded myself - and at Erek's house until I found a place to stay. I was in his room, since they didn't have a spare, and he was sleeping on the floor, having insisted that I take the bed. And I'd only been a nothlit for, what? Less than 12 hours?

It was kind of pathetic, really, once you got past the freakout value. Two teenage boys who weren't really teenage boys, both living under false names. Come to think of it, I didn't even *know* Erek's Chee name. I opened my mouth.

"And you don't sleep. I repeat: you're an android. You were probably wide awake, drawing a graph of my heart rate and blood pressure!" I teased.

Erek clicked the light switch and allowed himself a small smile. "Pipe down. Do you want to wake my dad?" he winked. "Hey, at heart I'm a normal adolescent human male."

"Yeah, sure. And I'm Visser Three."

He considered this. "Alright, so not quite normal as… paranormal. Right. Do you want me to turn the light off so we can go back to sleep?" I nodded and he got up off the bed. Click. The room plunged back into calming darkness.

I stifled a yawn. "Goodnight, Erek."

"Goodnight, Ax."

I was about to get back into bed when he interceded, "And for your information, I do sleep. It recharges my batteries."

I grinned to myself and slid under the blankets.

"Ow!"

"What is it this time?"

"Nothing!" I gingerly reached for the thing that had poked me. Located it. Pulled it towards me.

It was the necklace. The 'tooth' was glowing faintly, a sort of moonlit hue, flickering from blue to purple to yellow and gold. It was real? But, it was part of my dream… wasn't it?

I stuffed it under my pillow. I'd think about it in the morning. Tomorrow was a new day, my first day of life as a human. A fresh start.

I thought about Erek, and how he was likely to become a brother to me. He'd be there for me, like Elfangor always was. What would be in store for me? For the Animorphs? For the rest of humanity?

I couldn't think any more. My mind was feeling fuzzy and I could feel myself irrevocably dropping off to sleep. I'd think tomorrow. There would be plenty of time then.

And there would always be tomorrows after that.


--thend--




Disclaimer: Animorphs and all related persons, places, and inanimate objects belong to K.A. Applegate. (According to the copyright information, they are completely fictional and therefore aliens do not exist) A number of things in this story "belong" to me, but others are based on real people, places, etc and therefore belong to their respective base people et al. Use your discretion.

There, I think I've covered everything.

There is a sequel to this. To read it, click on the author's name (Sera) and in the list of stories I've written it's the only other Animorphs fic.

Keep rocking, and (this is cheesy so I _have_ to say it) have a nice day!